The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday voided an alleged plan by the police to obtain a search warrant to search the residences of Governor Nyesom Wike of River State in Abuja and other parts of the country. Justice Ahmed Mohammed in a judgment ruled that a court process such as a search warrant could not be issued a governor such as Wike who enjoys immunity under section 308 of the Constitution.
Last year, Wike sued the police over an alleged move to search his house in Abuja for huge cash sums believed to be proceeds of crime. Also joined as defendants in the suit filed are the Inspector-General of Police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Department of State Services.
The governor said he had it on good authority that the defendants had already or were making moves to obtain a search warrant to carry out the planned search on his home at Ortega Close, Hassan Usman Katsina Street, Asokoro Extension, Abuja.
According to him, the defendants were also making moves to search his other houses, including those in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. But he contended in the suit filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja through his lawyer, Sylva Ogwemoh (SAN), that such a search would violate his immunity as a sitting governor.
He wants the court to restrain the defendants from giving effect to the alleged planned search of his homes. His lawyer, Ogwemoh, claimed that such a search could not be conducted by the defendants without violating Section 308 of the constitution, which conferred immunity on his client as a governor.
Wike asked the court to determine ‘whether the defendants can by the combined effect of section 308 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and sections 149 (1) and 150 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 apply for, obtain, issue or, in any manner or form, effectively execute a search warrant’ at the residences of Wike.
Tags
Society