Court upholds order to seize Governor’s properties

chika ebuzor

August 3, 2016 9:02 AM

The court also held that the seizure of Fayose properties by the EFCC did not violate section 308 of the constitution.

Governor Ayodele Fayose.

Section 308 of the constitution, states that a sitting Governor has immunity from criminal or civil proceedings.

According to Justice Dimgba, “It is my considered opinion that the order of court, made on July 20, 2016, in respect of some property of the applicant, and within the limited scope and duration within which it was obtained, was duly procured and does not offend the provision of the Constitution referred to.

“Although Section 308 of the Constitution serves to isolate governors of states from the distraction of litigation and legal proceedings to enable them to attend to official responsibilities, it should not be interpreted in such a way as to defeat the fight against corruption, to mean that the EFCC or other investigating agencies cannot take a peep into the assets or personal accounts of a serving governor in the execution of a strictly worded and mutually supervised interim attachment orders for the purposes of obtaining evidence for use in future when the immunity has lapsed.”

The Judge, while urging the EFCC to carry out their investigation on time, added that the order will only last for 45 days.

The anti-graft agency had alleged that Governor Ayo Fayose bought the properties with money which he received from the Office of the National Security Adviser.

chika ebuzor