A high court sitting in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has quashed the declaration of executive vice chairman of Aiteo, Benedict Peters, as “wanted” by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). In a judgement given on March 22, 2017, the court stated that the anti-graft agency has no power to declare Peters or anyone wanted without a court order.

This was in response to a suit, FCT/HC/CV/23/2017, filed by Peters, accusing the EFCC of declaring him wanted on its website without following due process. As affirmed by the court, “Peters has never been charged with nor tried for any criminal offence in any court of law, nor has he ever jumped bail for any offence howsoever in Nigeria and cannot be declared wanted by administrative fiat, without any prior order or leave of court.”

The judgement, delivered by Justice Othman Musa, further read: “The very act of declaring the applicant (Benedict Peters) a wanted person on the official website of the first respondent (EFCC) without any prior order or leave of a court of competent jurisdiction to that effect is unlawful, illegal, wrongful, ultra vires, unconstitutional and constitutes a flagrant violation of the fundamental rights of the applicant to personal liberty, private and family life, freedom of movement and right to not to be subjected to inhuman treatment and degrading treatment as guaranteed under Section 34, 37, 41 and 46 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As amended), and Articles 2, 3(1) & (2), 4, 5, 6, 7, and 12(1) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act 2004.”

On August 15, 2016, Peters was declared wanted by the EFCC without an order of court and in the absence of a valid charge in a court of law. The said declaration was published in some newspapers and on the official website of the EFCC. It was also carried by other news platforms across the country.

The EFFC claimed that Peters was summoned on several occasions before he was declared wanted. However, evidence presented in court showed that Peters was out of the country on health grounds and this was communicated to the EFCC by his legal representatives. Peters requested for a rescheduling based on the aforementioned reason, but a day before the date on which he had been required to attend, armed men and police officers, at the behest of the EFCC, stormed his company premises ostensibly and made some arrests.

The EFCC’s justification of its actions was that it acted on a warrant of arrest issued by a magistrate’s court.  Upon scrutinizing the contents of the document constituting the warrant, the judge discovered that the said document was dated August 5, 2016, suggesting that it was made or signed by the issuing magistrate on that date. Curiously, the EFCC endorsed it as having been received on the August 4, 2016, at 10.32am. This inconsistency floored EFCC’s defence and the judge remarked: “I am left with no option but to conclude that the first respondent (EFCC) has presented to this court an absurd and unimaginable case of receiving a signed document a day before it was actually signed by the person who purported to have signed it. I am afraid, such a thing is not possible in our physical world. Perhaps, it is possible in the spirit world. This renders the circumstances surrounding the procurement of this document doubtful.”

Since EFCC’s declaration was not within the ambit of the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and did not comply with the conditions precedent to the said declaration, the court dismissed the case thus:

“An order is hereby made directing the 1st Respondent (EFCC) to remove from its website the purported declaration made against the applicant forthwith.”

This latest ruling in favour of the oil magnate follows a series of recorded victories where his earnings were declared as legitimate and several money laundering allegations levied against him were thrown out of court based on lack of evidence.