EFCC Defends Its Lawyer Accused Of Visiting A Judge's Residence To Influence Her Judgment

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC has defended one its lawyers, Barrister S.M Galadanchi, who allegedly visited a judge’s personal residence to influence the judge’s judgment over an ongoing case.
The anti-graft agency in a press statement on Monday, signed by head of media and publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, admitted that the anti-graft prosecutor in question truly visited the judge’s residence but claimed the visit was for a different purpose.
The statement reads in part “The facts as established by the EFCC, is that Galadanchi was actually at the home of Justice AbdulMalik sometime in July,2019. But the context of the visit had no nexus with the case pending before his Lordship, nor was the counsel there to influence her to rule in his favour.”
The agency added that the visit of one his prosecutors to the residence of the judge was a coincidence, adding that, the prosecutor was there to visit his fiance.
“Indeed Galadanchi’s presence in her home was a coincidence as he didn’t know that it was the residence of his Lordship.
According to the counsel, he had accompanied his fiancé, a P.hD candidate from the Ahmadu Bello University to meet with her uncle, who unknown to him is the husband of Justice AbdulMalik. According to him, himself and his partner had already arrived the premises of his Lordship when he sighted a vehicle with a Federal High Court registration number, and he immediately indicated a desire to leave,” the anti-graft agency said.
The commission added “Unfortunately, their host, Justice AbdulMalik’s husband who had been expecting them was already at the doorway and prevailed on him to stay.
He recalls that when his Lordship came into the living room and saw him, she expressed her displeasure and left for another living room.”
It was gathered that on October 8, Justice Joyce Obehin AbdulMalik of the Federal High Court in Ibadan had openly chastised S. M. Galadanchi, a prosecutor of the EFCC for visiting her home with the intent of influencing her decision in a case pending before the court.
It was also gathered that the Nigerian Bar Association NBA, in the same vein also condemned the prosecutor’s behavior while describing the state agency as one that tries to destroy the judiciary.
The EFCC however described the public outburst of the NBA as ‘hasty’, adding the the Nigerian Bar Association ought to have exercised a little patience for proper investigation into the matter.
The commission said “While the EFCC appreciates the concern of members of the bar over the incident, especially as the purported conduct is at variance with rules of professional conduct, the Commission considers the NBA statement as hasty.
“As an association which places premium on ethics and regulates the conduct of its members, the EFCC would have expected the NBA to delay its response until a proper investigation of the circumstances leading to the alleged outburst by his Lordship, by which time all the parties would have been availed the opportunity to state their case.”
The anti-graft agency however stressed that its agency does not condoned unethical behavior among its staff.
“The EFCC, like the NBA, does not condone bad behaviour by its staffers, and will punish any act of omission or commission that could impugn its collective integrity,” the anti-graft agency said.