The Court of Appeal in Abuja has quashed the contempt case initiated by the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, against the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Olanipekun Olukoyede.
Bello had predicted the contempt case before a High Court of Kogi State sitting in Lokoja on interim orders earlier granted by the court, subsequent upon which the High Court ordered Olukoyede to show cause why he should not be held for contempt, a decision the EFCC boss appealed.
In a judgment on Thursday, June 13, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal held among others that the contempt case was premised on dead interim orders issued by the Kogi State High Court, sitting in Lokoja.
The Court of Appeal held that, as at the time Bello commenced the contempt case, the interim orders, on which the contempt case was built, had expired because the High Court had delivered its judgment on the substantive fundamental human rights enforcement suit filed by Bello.
It noted that the interim orders, having been made pending the determination of the substantive suit and the substantive suit having been determined without the lifetime of the interim orders extended in the final judgment, the interim orders were extinct as of when the contempt case was initiated.
In the lead judgment, Justice Joseph Oyewole held the trial judge failed to extend the interim orders of 9/2/2024 in its final judgment of 17/4/2024.
The court awarded N1 million cost against the respondent (Bello).
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