Benue Governor suspends Attorney General Over Suit challenging EFCC’ Legality
The Governor of Benue State, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, has directed his Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Barr. Bemsen Mnyim, to proceed on indefinite suspension for challenging the establishment of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) at the Supreme Court.
The Governor announced the permanent suspension of the AG at the Government House during a press conference shortly after the Benue State Executive Council meeting on Wednesday.
Tersoo Kula, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, disclosed this in a statement.
Reason for Indefinite Suspension
According to the statement, the governor’s decision was based on Mnyim’s unilateral choice to join certain states in a suit challenging the legality of anti-graft agencies, namely the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).
The governor stated that he was not consulted by his AG, who sued the EFCC and others.
He stressed that he could not have approved such a move, as the EFCC is central to the fight against financial crimes in the state.
He said, “No appointee is permitted to act unilaterally. No matter how pressing or urgent the issue is, one must resort to due consultations with me or appropriately brief me and seek my permission before acting, especially in a sensitive matter such as this.
“My administration is holding accountable those who embezzled money and drained our state dry. The EFCC and ICPC are assisting us in this effort.
“How can I now turn around and begin to challenge these watchdogs? I gave no permission for him to enter an appearance for the state, “ he said.
The governor said because the AG acted on his own, he remains suspended indefinitely pending a satisfactory explanation of his actions.
The development comes after Supreme Court had on Tuesday reserved judgment in a suit challenging the establishment of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), as well as another related anti-graft agency.
A seven-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, reserved judgment for “a later date” after hearing oral arguments in cases filed by several states against the Attorney General of the Federation.
In his oral argument, Mohammed Abdulwahab, SAN, counsel for Kogi State, drew the apex court’s attention to a previous Supreme Court observation that a United Nations Convention against Corruption was incorporated into the EFCC Establishment Act, contrary to Section 12 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Several states aligned with his line of argument.
Section 12 partly states, “No treaty between the Federation and any other country shall have the force of law except to the extent to which any such treaty has been enacted into law by the National Assembly.”
“A bill for an Act of the National Assembly passed pursuant to the provisions of subsection (2) of this section shall not be presented to the President for assent and shall not be enacted unless it is ratified by a majority of all the Houses of Assembly in the Federation.”
Abdulwahab argued that the constitutional provision required a majority of the states’ Houses of Assembly to agree with their federal legislators in passing the EFCC Act and others.
On his part, the AGF Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, briefly stated that the establishment of the anti-graft agencies had been favorably settled by several Supreme Court verdicts in the past.
He argued that granting the states’ reliefs would generally be interpreted as the apex court halting the agencies created to engage in a nationwide fight against corruption across the federation.