By Onozure Dania

Lagos—The embattled Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Rickey Tarfa, yesterday asked a Lagos High Court sitting at Igbosere, to quash the criminal charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

The defendant is facing a two-count charge bordering on obstructing officers of law to carry out their official duty and attempt to pervert the course of justice.

At the resumed hearing of the matter, yesterday Tarfa through his counsel, Mr A. G Owonikoko (SAN), urged the court to quash the charge on the grounds that the EFCC had no right to prosecute any general criminal offences outside economic and financial crimes.

Owonikoko told the court said that the case Tarfa is being tried for  was already before the Court of Appeal and therefore constitute an abuse of court processes and should be quashed.

He said that by the virtue of Section 286 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law 2004, the EFCC could not be a complainant, an investigator and at the same time a prosecutor.

He, however submitted that for EFCC to be the investigator and prosecuting the same case, “The filing of this charge is a clear case of abuse of court process, therefore the proper order is to dismiss the charge”.

Responding to the argument, the counsel to EFCC, Mr G. K. Latona, urged the court to disregard the submission of the defendant.

He said that an existence of a civil appeal does not have any relation with this particular case, adding that the Federal Republic of Nigeria was not a party to the case before the appeal court.                                                                                                                                               Latona further argued that the EFCC did not abuse court processes.

However, Justice Ashiat Opesanwo adjourned the matter till April 20 for ruling on the application and for a possible trial.