Kogi State government has sued the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the controversial N19.3 billion Kogi bailout fund.
The state government is also demanding the sum of N35 billion as damages.
In a statement released on Sunday, Kogi government said it sued the EFCC for its “false and unfounded” allegations that the funds were recovered from its account.
Listed as the plaintiffs in the suit were; the Kogi government, its accountant-general, Momoh Jibrin, and Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Mukadam Asiru; while the EFCC, Sterling Bank, and Central Bank of Nigeria were listed as defendants in the case filed before Justice J. J. Majebi of the Kogi State High Court.
The statement reads, “The government is demanding the sum of 35 billion only as to damages against the 1st defendant for the defamatory publication, titled, ‘Hidden N19.3bn Kogi salary bailout funds returned to CBN’ made on November 19, 2021, on her Facebook page containing amongst others, false and unfounded allegations of N19.3 billion being returned from Kogi State bailout account, which portrays fraud and misappropriation of the public fund against the claimant.”
Also, the state government noted that a High Court in the state had granted an interim injunction restraining the EFCC from inviting state officials or further publishing any document regarding the recovered funds.
While asking the court to declare the publication as “misconceived, wrongful, illegal, null and void”, the plaintiff also asked the court to declare that the conduct of the second defendant (Sterling Bank) was wrong, illegal, null and void in opening a fixed deposit account number 0073572696 and naming it Kogi bailout account without an application, request, authority or consent of the government.
The Kogi government also sought an interim injunction restraining the first defendant/respondent, its allies, agents, representatives, associates from doing anything either by inviting officials of the first claimant or requesting any document involving account number 0073572696 or any other account “pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice for Interlocutory Injunction.”
The Kogi government also asked the court to declare EFCC’s statement on the recovered funds “defamatory.”
The EFCC had claimed it discovered N19.3 billion belonging to the Kogi government in a fixed deposit account with Sterling Bank.
The funds in the account 0073572696 with the name Kogi State Salary Bail Out Account were meant to pay salaries in the state and were allegedly not used for its purpose.
However, the government had repeatedly denied this, claiming it did not open the account, but corporate documents showed Bello’s administration opened the account in 2019.
