18 Years After, EFCC Gets Supreme Court’s Nod To Probe Odili’s Tenure In Rivers

The Supreme Court has dismissed appeals filed by the Attorney General of Rivers State and the Speaker of the State’s House of Assembly against the leave granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by the Court of Appeal to challenge an order of perpetual injunction of Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, which barred the anti-graft Commission from investigating Dr. Peter Odili’s tenure as governor of the state.

LEADERSHIP recalls that Odili was governor of Rivers State from 1999 to 2007.

The dismissal of the appeal by a five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice John Okoro, effectively cleared the pathway for the Commission to investigate Dr. Odili’s eight year rule of the oil-rich state and brought to an end EFCC’s long-standing legal battle to probe the administration.

According to a statement by the Spokesman of the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, the legal dispute took off in 2007 when Odili obtained an order of perpetual injunction from the Federal High Court, sitting in Port Harcourt barring the EFCC from investigating, arresting, or prosecuting him, as well as prohibiting the anti-graft agency from examining the finances of the Rivers State Government during his tenure. Though the EFCC has contested the injunction since 2008, the order has effectively shielded Odili from any scrutiny by the Commission for nearly two decades.

In 2018, the Court of Appeal granted the EFCC’s request for leave to appeal the Federal High Court’s decision, which prompted the Attorney General of Rivers State and the Speaker of the State’s House of Assembly to file separate appeals at the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the appellate court’s decision.

He said on March 10, 2025, the Supreme Court convened to hear the appeal filed by the litigants, marked SC/CV/318/2018.

During the proceedings, Justice Okoro questioned the substance of the case, noting that the appeal was interlocutory in nature. The litigants’s lawyer, S. A. Somiari, SAN, argued that the appeal challenged the leave granted by the Court of Appeal for the EFCC to appeal the 2007 injunction.

Justice Okoro, however, interjected, stating, “This is not the type of appeal we hear here,” and advised the parties to return to the Court of Appeal to have the substantive appeal heard before approaching the Supreme Court.

Recognising the court’s position, Somiari applied to withdraw the appeal while the EFCC’s legal team, led by Abubakar Mahmud, SAN, alongside Sylvanus Tahir, SAN, and B. O. Obialo did not oppose the withdrawal.

Justice Okoro dismissed the appeal, stating, “The appeal is dismissed, having been withdrawn without any objection.”

A similar appeal, marked SC/CV/447/2018, filed by the Speaker of the House of Assembly, was dismissed on the same ground.