The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court yesterday? voided an alleged plan by the police to obtain a search warrant and execute same at the residences of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State in Abuja and other parts of the country.
In his ruling, Justice Ahmed Mohammed barred the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as well as the Department of State Services (DSS) from executing any search warrant on the matter.
Governor Wike had in a suit, marked ABJ/FHC/CS/383/2017 and filed ?on May 4, 2017, sued the IGP, police, EFCC, and DSS as first to fourth defendants following moves by them to investigate him while still in office as a governor.
Justice Mohammad held that it was gratifying to note that the “parties are in agreement that the plaintiff cannot be investigated based on the provision of Section 308(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) notwithstanding anything to the contrary. ?It was the judgment of the court that a process such as a search warrant could not be issued a governor such as Wike who enjoys immunity under Section 308 of the constitution.”
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He noted that the provision stipulates that no civil or criminal proceedings should be instituted against a person protected by the section. The jurist continued: “Secondly, the person covered by the provisions shall not be arrested, and thirdly, any process of court requiring the appearance of a person protected under the provisions shall not be applied.”
The court held that “a careful reading of Section 308(1)(c) shows that the constitution has prohibited a process requiring appearance of a serving governor before any investigative panel.” Justice Mohammed stated that the argument of the police and the EFCC that Wike’s residences could be searched without his presence was untenable. Read more<<<<<
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