2 months ago
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ICPC Chairman, Musa Adamu Aliyu
The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu (SAN), appeared before a Kano High Court on Thursday to respond to a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by the Association of Local Government Chairmen and 43 Local Government Areas Caretaker Committee members.
The court presided over by Justice Ibrahim Karaye, is set to adjudicate on the suit seeking to restrain the ICPC and other law enforcement agencies from investigating the award of contracts by the applicants.
Counsel for the applicants, Shamsu Jibrin, stated that his clients approached the court to seek a legal interpretation on whether it is lawful for seven government agencies to simultaneously investigate a single matter, describing the situation as an abuse of court processes, frivolous, and unconstitutional.
Jibrin explained that he sought to enforce the rights of the applicants, alleging that the ICPC and the Kano State Anti-Corruption Commission had violated the court’s interim order restraining the respondents from further action pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
He noted that the order was served on the respondents 24 hours after it was issued, emphasising that the respondents violated the order on September 6, 2024.
At the resumed hearing on Thursday, Jibrin informed the court that he had filed two applications: one for contempt proceedings against the ICPC and the Kano Anti-Corruption Commission and the other requesting the court to prohibit the respondents from taking further action until they comply.
In response, the ICPC Chairman, Aliyu, argued that the applicants’ counsel misled the court to obtain an interim order against the commission.
He asserted that lawyers should act as ministers in the temple of justice and stressed that the commission had invited Abdullahi Aliyu Dederi, the Caretaker Chairman of Karaye LGA, who is not a party to the suit.
Aliyu described Dederi as an imposter, stating, “The suit was filed by 44 LGA Chairmen of Kano State, while the ICPC invited one Abdullahi Aliyu Dederi, who was a Caretaker Chairman of Karaye LGA. Dederi is not a party to this suit, and I can describe him as an imposter.”
He also noted that, according to Section 122 of the Evidence Act, in March, the Kano State Governor had forwarded Dederi’s name alongside 43 others to the Kano State House of Assembly for confirmation as Caretaker Chairmen of 44 LGAs in Kano State. Dr. Aliyu argued that Dederi and the other 43 had been managing the local governments’ funds and suggested that the applicants were attempting to use the court to continue managing the funds of the 44 LGAs.
Relying on a Supreme Court judgment delivered on July 11, 2024, the ICPC Chairman explained that no person should be considered a local government caretaker contrary to the judgment.
He further argued that Dederi lacked the legal power to file the suit and prayed the court to address the application for contempt before considering other applications to determine if the commission had defied the court order.
However, the trial judge ruled that the case file would be returned to the Kano Chief Judge for reassignment to another judge to handle the contempt proceedings.
