Nigeria, May 17 -- The Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt has upheld a 2007 Rivers State High Court judgement restraining the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from investigating the finances and public accounts of the Rivers State Government.

The court's judgement essentially blocked the EFCC from probing and prosecuting former Rivers State Governor Peter Odili, who governed the state between 1999 and 2007

In the judgement delivered on Friday in an appeal marked: CA/PH/622/2008, a three-member panel of the appellate court held that the earlier decision remains valid and binding because it was never challenged on appeal.

The panel, made up of Justices Ugochukwu Ogakwu, Isah Gafai and Zainab Abubakar, ruled in the appeal fil...