Fadekemi Branch, wife of popular Nollywood actor, Femi Branch, has filed an application seeking to commit the embattled chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, to prison for contempt of court.
In the application currently pending before Hon. Justice Akintayo Aluko of the Lagos Judicial Division of the Federal High Court, Mrs. Branch is seeking the committal of Bawa for failing to honour and comply with the judgment delivered by Hon. Justice Akintayo Aluko on 22nd July, 2022 in Suit No. FHC/L/CA/163/2022: Mrs Fadekemi Branch v Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
In the above-mentioned suit, the Plaintiff, Mrs. Fadekemi Branch, wife of popular Nollywood celebrity, Femi Branch, sued the EFCC through her lawyer, Mr. Solomon Edoh Esq. for, amongst other things, breach of her constitutional right to presumption of innocence guaranteed and protected by Section 36(5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), wrongful collection and withholding of her bank draft for the sum of N3, 056, 000 (Three Million and Fifty Six Thousand Naira) without any just cause or excuse and illegal detention.
The Court delivered its judgment in favor of the Plaintiff and mandated the EFCC to pay the Plaintiff the sum of N3, 056, 000 (Three Million and Fifty Six Thousand Naira) being the value of the bank draft illegally collected from the Plaintiff, interest on the aforesaid sum, damages in the sum of N2, 000, 000 (Two Million Naira) and cost of the action in the sum of N1, 500, 000 (One Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira). After the judgment was delivered on 22nd July, 2022, the counsel to the Plaintiff, Mr. Solomon Edoh Esq., served a certified true copy of the judgment on the EFCC and its Chairman and demanded compliance through two letters but his letters were neither responded to nor honoured.
Following the attitude of the EFCC chairman, an application for contempt which is a motion on notice and dated 15th March, 2023 was filed on the same day. It was served on the EFCC and Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa through the office of the Head of Legal and Prosecution Department at the head office of the EFCC in Abuja on 31st May, 2023.
It is yet be seen whether the embattled chairman and the EFCC will obey the order before 28th June, 2023, which is the scheduled date for the hearing of the motion seeking to commit the EFCC Chairman to prison.
