Bolaji Henry Akinduro, a middle-aged businessman on the wanted list of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has said that the anti-graft agency declared him wanted unlawfully.

The EFCC declared the Chief Executive Officer of Global Signature Hotel and Total Grace Group Limited wanted on October 11 in connection to a case of “obtaining money under false pretence and stealing by conversion”. Akinduro’s team told EQ it had filed a lawsuit against the EFCC for declaring him wanted.

While filing the suit on Wednesday at the Federal High Court in Lagos, Akinduro told the court that the anti-graft agency declared him wanted without any form of judicial intervention, recourse to constitutional safeguards or order from a court.

READ ALSO: EFCC Declares Businessman Bolaji Akinduro Wanted — His Theft Case Dates Back to 2011

According to a statement issued on Wednesday by his legal team, led by Senior Advocate of Nigeria Olalekan Ojo, “the fraud allegation against Akinduro was baseless and ill-motivated”.

Akinduro’s legal team said the EFCC’s petition was an attempt to criminalise a contractual disagreement that was already before the courts.

Part of the statement from Akinduro’s legal team reads: “It is pertinent to state that the petition against our Client was an ignoble attempt to criminalise purely contractual disputes that had arisen from the investment agreement between our Client and the Petitioner, Mr Femi Olushakin.

“The commercial or contractual disputes had earlier been referred to competent Court by the parties before the Publication of the name of our Client on the list of wanted persons by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

READ ALSO: How EFCC Barged Into Radio Station in Enugu, Halted Live Programme

“One would have expected that the Petitioner would allow the Court to decide the rights and liabilities of the parties since the matter is already sub-judice. Without mincing words, the dispute involving our Client on the one hand, and Mr Femi Olushakin, on the other hand, is of a purely civil and contractual nature.

“Our client has taken further legal actions towards establishing with compelling finality that the fraud allegations made against him are unfounded, groundless, baseless and ill-motivated. It is pertinent to stress that our client is presumed innocent by constitutional fiat until [the] contrary is proved or established.”
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