The Supreme Court has dismissed appeals – marked SC/CV/318/2018 – filed by the Attorney General of Rivers State and the Speaker of the State’s House of Assembly against the leave granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, by the Court of Appeal to contest an order of perpetual injunction of Federal High Court, Port Harcourt that barred the commission from investigating Peter Odili’s tenure as governor of the state.

The dismissal by a five-member panel of the apex court cleared the pathway for EFCC to investigate Dr. Odili’s eight-year rule in Rivers State and brought to an end EFCC’s long-standing legal battle to probe the administration.

The legal dispute started in 2007 when Odili, who served as Rivers State governor from 1999 to 2007, obtained an order of perpetual injunction from the Federal High Court, sitting in Port Harcourt barring the EFCC from investigating, arresting, or prosecuting Odili, as well as prohibiting the anti-graft agency from examining the finances of the Rivers State Government during his tenure.

The EFCC contested the injunction in 2008, the order has effectively shielded Odili from any scrutiny by the Commission for nearly two decades.