Court Throws Out Babalakin’s Suit Against EFCC

A Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday threw out a suit filed by the Chairman of Bi-Courtney Group, Dr. Wale Babalakin (SAN), contesting his planned arraignment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Babalakin had filed the suit to challenge the legality of the criminal charges filed against him, arguing that the EFCC lacked the power to institute a suit against him at the Lagos Court without the fiat of the Lagos State attorney-general.
But Justice Mohammed Idris, in his judgement, struck out the suit, saying that Babalakin committed procedural errors by failing to comply with provisions of the court’s rules.
He stated that under Order 34 Rule 5 of the court’s Civil Procedure Rules, the plaintiff was required to depose to and file an affidavit of service of court processes on the respondents, which he said Babalakin failed to comply with.
The EFCC had prayed the court to dismiss the suit on the ground that it was an abuse of court process.