A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State has ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to desist from taking any further action against a former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha.
The court ordered the anti-graft agency to wait until the determination of another case before it, before taking any other action.
Okorocha, represented by Ola Olanipekun (SAN), had approached the Federal High Court, presided over by Justice Stephen Pam, seeking the enforcement of some orders, earlier made in his favour in a case between him and the EFCC.
According to Olanipekun, the court on December 6, 2021, granted the prayers of his client and ordered the EFCC to stop the prosecution of Okorocha after faulting the process of investigation adopted by the agency.
The court also forbade the EFCC from investigating or carrying out any other action against the former governor, while asking the anti-graft agency to release his passport and any other travel documents.
Olanipekun said the orders were predicated on the case they brought before Justice Pam when the EFCC last year carried out an investigation and announced its outcome in the media that his client mismanaged the sum of N5.7 billion when he served as Governor of Imo State without inviting the Okorocha for interrogation, an action he says was an abuse of his fundamental right to a fair hearing and presumption of innocence.
At the resumption of proceedings on Tuesday, Olanipekun said he returned to the same Federal High Court 4 to seek the protection of the right of his client because the EFCC has refused to obey any of the three orders earlier made.