Supreme Court of Nigeria has dismissed appeals filed by the Rivers State Attorney General and the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, effectively paving the way for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate the tenure of former Rivers State Governor, Peter Odili.
In a ruling delivered on Monday, March 10, 2025, a five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice John Okoro, upheld the leave granted by the Court of Appeal to the EFCC, allowing the anti-graft agency to challenge a long-standing perpetual injunction that had barred it from probing Odili’s administration.
Odili, who governed Rivers State from 1999 to 2007, secured the controversial injunction from the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt in 2007, preventing the EFCC from investigating, arresting, or prosecuting him, as well as scrutinising the state’s finances during his tenure.
The EFCC has fought to overturn the injunction since 2008, but the legal blockade had shielded Odili from its investigations for nearly two decades.