A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has awarded a N10 million fine against the immediate past Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, for filing a frivolous suit against the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, saying he acted as if he was “an errand boy”.
The presiding judge, Justice James Omotosho, in a ruling on Monday, June 5, awarded N5 million fine each in favour of Atiku and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), making N10 million against Keyamo.
Justice Omotosho, who described the suit as “frivolous, vexatious and abuse of court processes,” directed that the fine should be paid “at 10 per cent per annum until the cost is finally liquidated”.
The order followed an oral application by counsel for Atiku, Benson Igbanoi, and that of the ICPC, Oluwakemi Odogun, asking for cost after the matter was dismissed.
Keyamo, who was also the spokesperson of the dissolved Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), filed the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/84/2023 on January 20, 2023.
In the application, he sought an order compelling the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), ICPC, and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to probe and prosecute Atiku.
Keyamo based his action on the ground of claims by one of Atiku’s aides, Michael Achimugu, that between 1999 and 2007 when he was Vice President, he (Achimugu) conspired with ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo to rip off the country using what he termed “Special Purpose Vehicles”.
The ex-minister filed the suit after the 72-hour ultimatum he gave the three investigating agencies elapsed.
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But Atiku (1st defendant), through his lawyer, filed a notice of preliminary objection, seeking an order dismissing the suit for being incompetent, lack of locus standi, want of jurisdiction and for non-disclosure of reasonable cause against him.
The EFCC, ICPC and the CCB, in their separate preliminary objections, also challenged the competency of the suit and jurisdiction of the court.
Delivering the ruling, Justice Omotosho held that he had two issues for determination and that was whether the suit was frivolous and whether the relief sought by Keyamo could be granted.
The judge, who said the jurisdiction of the court would be determined, added that the locus standi of the applicant would also be looked into.
He said though the court did not say Keyamo did not have a right to write statutory agencies to investigate Atiku, but that he had not shown why he was affected by the former Vice President’s action.
“A citizen of a country has a right to report crime and that cannot be an infraction on fundamental rights of any person.
“But the complainant is to complain to the statutory agencies and not to drag the 1st defendant with the agencies to court to seek an order to compel the agencies to investigate the suspect,” Justice Omotosho said.
Justice Omotosho held that investigating authorities have the discretionary powers to investigate any case and to know if such case would warrant any prosecution or not, citing previous cases to back his decision.
The judge, who read Keyamo’s letter wherein he gave the investigating agencies 72-hour ultimatum to investigate Abubakar, said the Court of Appeal in one of its decisions, cautioned public officers against abuse of powers.
He said that it was unheard of that a citizen would give statutory agencies 72-hour to investigate and prosecute an alleged offence.
The judge, who stated Keyamo failed to give a reasonable time for the statutory bodies to act before filing the suit, said: “This means that the action was filed in bad faith.”
Justice Omotosho, who dismissed the suit, therefore, commended the EFCC, ICPC, and the CCB for refusing to act in a way that would suggest that Keyamo was giving them directives.
Shortly after the ruling, ICPC’s lawyer, Odogun, asked for a N30 million fine in favour of his client.
She argued that the ICPC had been diligent in defending the matter and that time and resources had been wasted.
Also, Atiku’s lawyer, Igbanoi, prayed the court for a N200 million fine against Keyamo, considering that his client was a former Vice President and presidential candidate in the last election.
But Keyamo’s counsel, O. C. Uju, disagreed with the two lawyers asking the court to dismiss their application for a cost.
Justice Omotosho, however, awarded N5 million fine each in favour of Atiku and ICPC.
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