THE Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly Bamidele Oloyeloogun has told the state High Court, sitting in Akure, the state capital, that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has no right to prosecute him.
Oloyeloogun is being tried for alleged corrupt practices alongside another lawmaker Bankole Felemu-Gudu, and a staff of the assembly, Olusegun Kayode.
He was accused of misappropriation of N2.4 million belonging to the state assembly.
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The fund was reportedly meant for a seminar, which the lawmaker and the civil servant were supposed to attend but allegedly did not.
Lawyer to the Speaker Femi Emodamori told the court in his objection that the EFCC had no right to try his clients for alleged corruption as the state already had its own version of the EFCC – the Public Complaint, Financial Crimes and Anti-Corruption Commission passed into law and signed by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu in January this year.
According to him, his client is accused of financial crimes involving the finances and assets of the state, and since the state had its own version of the law, the EFCC should leave the prosecution of the case.
Counsel to the EFCC Fredrick Dibang objected to the claim and said the court had jurisdiction because the law enacted by the state assembly was contrary to the Acts of the National Assembly that established the EFCC.
The presiding judge Justice Adegboyega Adebusoye fixed the hearing for the objection and counter-objection for November 25, 2022.
In July, an Akure High Court in Ondo State granted the EFCC the order to prosecute Oleyeloogun and others for the alleged N2.4 million fraud committed in 2019.
Justice Adebusuyi granted the order following an application by the lawyer to the anti-graft commission, Dibang, seeking the prosecution of the lawmakers for alleged fraud.
A reporter with the ICIR
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