Seun Ogunbambo and Habila Theck, embattled oil marketers recently declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), have declared that the commission has no authority to issue such a declaration. A statement by their lawyer, Mr. Ajibola Oluyede said the declaration by the EFCC, which suggests that his clients are at large, has earned them more troubles. “This has occasioned distress and business loss to our clients,” he said, claiming that the EFCC is persecuting the duo rather than prosecuting them. On June 25, Ogunbambo was not in court when his matter was called.
A grace time within which other business was attended to by the court also lapsed without the defendant showing up. The EFCC consequently applied for a warrant to arrest the defendants, which was granted by court.
But Ogumbambo was noticed in the court premises soon after those developments, sweating profusely. The lawyer had told the court that his “lateness” was due to traffic problems in the Lagos metropolis. In today’s statement, his counsel claimed he had obtained court's order setting aside the June 25 warrant after persuading the court on their reason for lateness. "An application was filed on the 26th of June 2013 to set aside the order of the Lagos State High Court for bench warrant to issue against our clients. "We had earlier presented our clients to the court on the 25th of June 2013 and informed the court of the unavoidable incident that caused our clients to be late to court," the statement said. "The learned trial judge had remarked that he would bear our clients presence, though belated, in mind when an application is made for the order by the EFCC and ensure that the warrant is not signed." Oluyede challenged that even if the judge had signed the warrant, it was immediately invalid once the same judge had granted another application setting it aside. "
EFCC is playing media and branding games with the livelihood of innocent Nigerians as if completely oblivious of the Constitutional provision, in Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution, to the effect that everyone “is presumed innocent until proved guilty,” he accused. Meanwhile, EFCC prosecution counsel, Mr. Francis Usani, said h neither he nor the commission was aware or interested that another order was granted setting aside the warrant it obtained on 25th June from the court. "It's in the court's record. The court could not have said such after the prosecution had left and not aware of any new order", Mr. Usani said.
Text of the statement:
It has been drawn to our attention that the EFCC has declared our clients, Seun Ogunbambo and Habila Theck wanted. This has occasioned distress and business loss to our clients. It is now obvious that EFCC is persecuting Seun Ogunbambo and not prosecuting him. The EFCC has no justifiable reason or authority to declare them wanted. An application was filed on the 26th of June 2013 to set aside the order of the Lagos State High Court for bench warrant to issue against our clients. We had earlier presented our clients to the court on the 25th of June 2013 and informed the court of the unavoidable incident that caused our clients to be late to court. The learned trial judge had remarked that he would bear our clients presence in court, though belated, in mind when an application is made for the order by the EFCC and ensure that the warrant is not signed. It was therefore merely to formally ensure the trial judge had a recollection of that event that we filed the formal application supported by an affidavit reiterating the reason earlier given to the court on the25th of June. Therefore, in the absence of a valid warrant from the trial court EFCC has no basis to declare Seun Ogunbambo and Habila Theck, wanted. The warrant, even if signed after our motion to set aside the order had been filed and served, would be invalid. EFCC is playing media and branding games with the livelihood of innocent Nigerians as if completely oblivious of the Constitutional provision, in Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution, to the effect that everyone “is presumed innocent until proved guilty”. PRINCE AJIBOLA OLUYEDE
Source: Sahara Reporters
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