The Federal Capital Territory High Court has convicted the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, for contempt of court.
The EFCC boss was convicted on Tuesday by the presiding Judge, Justice Chizoba Oji, for his failure to comply with a court order made on November 21, 2018, directing the anti-graft agency to return to a defendant, a former Director of Operations at the Nigerian Air Force, AVM Rufus Adeniji Ojuawo, his Range Rover and the sum of N40 million.
Ojuawo had been arraigned by the EFCC before Justice Muawiyah Baba-Idris in 2016 for receiving N40 million naira and a Range Rover Sport from one Hima Abubakar.
Justice Oji ordered that Bawa should be committed to prison at Kuje Correctional Centre Abuja for his disobedience, and continued disobedience of the said order until he purges himself of the contempt.
The judge rejected the arguments put forward by the commission’s lawyer, Francis Jirbo to justify his client’s action.
She further directed the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba to ensure that the order of this court is executed forthwith.
Reacting to the judgement, Bawa said an appeal has been filed hence the law would take its natural course. “We have appealed against it, so we will allow the natural course of law to take its effects,” he said.
