A police attorney named Ibrahim Mohammed who brought criminal charges against Senator Stella Adaeze Oduah, a former minister of aviation, has been disowned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The anti-graft organisation informed the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday that Mohammed, a Superintendent of Police, was neither required nor authorised to bring any criminal charges against Mrs. Oduah, who most recently represented Anambra North in the Senate.

Heleen Okonofua, a lawyer for the EFCC, informed Justice James Omotoso that Mrs. Oduah had not been given permission by the anti-graft organisation to be charged with any crimes by the Police attorney who claimed to have arrived from the Force Headquarters Legal Department.

Mohammed was initially employed by the EFCC, but on November 4, 2022, he was de-seconded from the EFCC and returned to the Police, according to the attorney.

The criminal charge brought on June 22, 2023, by the police attorney in the name of the EFCC, was not authorised or approved by the organisation, she stated to the court.

The attorney informed Justice Omotoso that the EFCC had conducted an investigation into the Police lawyer as the Judge had requested and that the court would have access to the report of the findings once it had been filed at the court’s registry.

Justice Omotoso issued a brief ruling in which she set October 4, 2023, as the deadline for the EFCC to formally provide the court with the report of its findings. 

When responding to the judge’s questions, Mohammed acknowledged that he had made mistakes in using the EFCC’s name to file the charges and noted that he was a fallible human being.