Contempt: Olanipekun tells EFCC chair, Bawa to obey court order

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ola Olanipekun has called on the Inspector-General of Police to comply with a court order committing the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, to prison for contempt.

Olanipekun, who said Bawa was trying to cause anarchy in the country by disobeying court orders, said the EFCC boss had recently been committed to prison in a similar ruling by a Federal Capital Territory High Court in November.

He spoke just as the office of the IGP received and acknowledged the order committing Bawa to prison on Wednesday.

Justice R.O. Ayoola of the Kogi State High Court, in his judgment on Monday, granted the application for committal to prison of the EFCC boss for disobeying a court ruling delivered on November 30, 2022, wherein he was directed to produce the applicant in the case, Ali Bello.

Bello dragged Bawa to court for arresting and detaining him illegally, with the court ruling in his favour, only for the EFCC to arraign him for alleged money laundering three days after the ruling.

Speaking on Arise Television, Olanipekun argued that no Nigerian or foreigner, no matter how highly placed, should be allowed to rubbish the courts, noting that the same instrument put the EFCC boss in office.

“In fact, the higher the position you occupy, the greater the burden of responsibility on you to show good example and live within the ambit of the law. Punch