In a landmark verdict that put an end to 18 years old perpetual injunction, the Supreme Court, on Monday, March 10, 2025, dismissed appeals by the Attorney General of Rivers State and the Speaker of the State’s House of Assembly against the leave granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by the Court of Appeal to contest an order of perpetual injunction by Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt that stopped the Commission from investigating the tenure of former Rivers State Governor Peter Odili.
TheIdeal News recalls that Justice Buba gave the controversial verdict in March 2007 when he granted the perpetual injunction against the EFCC, stopping the foremost anti-graft agency from investigating Peter Odili’s tenure.
Incidentally, Justice Buba bowed out of the Federal High Court on January 1, 2025, after clocking the mandatory retirement age of 65 years.
The dismissal by a five-member panel of the apex court, led by a Justice of Supreme Court (JSC), Justice John Okoro effectively cleared the pathway for the Commission to investigate Odili’s eight year rule of the oil-rich state and brought to an end EFCC’s long-standing legal battle to probe the administration.
The legal dispute took off in 2007 when Odili, who served as Rivers State governor from 1999 to 2007, obtained an order of perpetual injunction from the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt barring the EFCC from investigating, arresting, or prosecuting Odili, as well as prohibiting the anti-graft agency from examining the finances of the Rivers State Government during his tenure.
It is instructive to note that though the EFCC contested the perpetual injunction since 2008, the order has effectively shielded Odili from any scrutiny by the Commission for nearly two decades.
In 2018, the Court of Appeal granted the EFCC’s request for leave to appeal the Federal High Court’s decision, which prompted the Attorney General of Rivers State and the Speaker of the State’s House of Assembly to file separate appeals at the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the appellate court’s decision.
On March 10, 2025, the Supreme Court convened to hear the appeal filed by the litigants, marked SC/CV/318/2018. During the proceedings, Justice Okoro questioned the substance of the case, noting that the appeal was interlocutory in nature. The litigants’s lawyer, S. A. Somiari, SAN, argued that the appeal challenged the leave granted by the Court of Appeal for the EFCC to appeal the 2007 injunction.
But Justice Okoro interjected, saying that, “This is not the type of appeal we hear here,” and advised the parties to return to the Court of Appeal to have the substantive appeal heard before approaching the Supreme Court.
Recognizing the court’s position, Somiari applied to withdraw the appeal while the EFCC’s legal team, led by Abubakar Mahmud, SAN, alongside Sylvanus Tahir, SAN, and B. O. Obialo did not oppose the withdrawal.
Justice Okoro consequently dismissed the appeal, saying that, “The appeal is dismissed, having been withdrawn without any objection.”
A similar appeal, marked SC/CV/447/2018, filed by the Speaker of the House of Assembly was also dismissed on the same ground.
