Time to reform efcc

Time to reform EFCC



EFCC in a bid to legalize continuousdetention of the detainees, took them to Court 10 in a magistrate court atBotanical Garden, located at Apapa road, Ebute Metta, at 7.00pm on Friday toseek extended detention order against them. The Guardian, Sunday, May 8, 2011,page 9.

7.00pm? Pray, are our courts open at7pm?

THIS is the depth to which ournation anti-graft agency, funded with tax-payers funds, has suddenly sunken tobefore our very eyes. No single day passes without a damning story on the brazenimpunity and scant regard for the law by EFCC as the only way the leadershipknows to show that they deserve to be left at their jobs, but unfortunately tothe detriment of the nation.

Only last May, apparently working inconcert with the leadership of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), they went afterthe CEOs of banks who were removed from office two years ago, claimingdiscovery of new evidence. However, according to ThisDay, Wednesday, May 4,2011, p7, A source close to the anti-graft commission informed ThisDay lastnight that the renewed onslaught against them was aimed at coercing them into aplea bargain with the commission.

Even the usually restrainedflagship, The Guardian, has been compelled to lampoon the inefficiency andrecklessness of EFCC. In its extensive editorial of June 1, 2011, p14, thepaper unequivocally declared that the EFCC is giving a public showing either ofincompetence or mischief.

Now, the returnee Attorney Generaland Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, SAN, who supervises EFCC, has joinedthe fray. At the Senate confirmation hearing, he bared his mind on EFCC thus: Mostof our anti-corruption agencies lack the capacity to do thoroughinvestigations. They lack capacity to collate evidences to sustain a charge andsecure conviction in court and until we properly reform these agencies, we willcontinue to experience the problems we are experiencing today. (Emphasis mine)

There is therefore no shred of doubtthat the leadership of EFCC has fallen short of expectations with theunnecessary controversies surrounding its activities lately, barely one monthafter the inauguration of President Jonathan. Never before in the history ofNigeria has a government agency hired the President of the Nigerian Bar Association(NBA) as its counsel to prosecute its case involving the enforcement of thefundamental human rights of a Nigerian. Worse still, EFCC has been variously criticizedfor being lopsided in staffing (95% of its staff are alleged to be northernerswhile 95% of Nigerians it harasses are alleged to be southerners). We have alsonot forgotten how Barrister Daudu, EFCC counsel walked out on JusticeArchibong!

Even President Goodluck Jonathanwould by now not be too pleased with the daily revelations in the media on thesubversion of the rule of law by EFCC, especially the harsh remarks by thenation Chief Law Officer at the Senate Ministerial screening. They have notonly serially defied court orders to grant bail to bank chief executives in itsdetention, but have deteriorated to the level of chasing court bailiffs out ofits offices when they come to serve them with court orders based on orders fromabove.

Some revelations of what is going onin EFCC are so shocking that you begin to wonder if there is rule of law inthis country. Again hear the Minister of Justice: More often than not, peopleare arrested before they are investigated. They are arrested even before thereis evidence. They traumatize them and the people are dramatically tried on the pagesof newspapers and at the end of the day, when they are unable to prove theircase, they end up blaming the courts. (ThisDay, Tuesday, July 5, 2011, ThisDayLawyer, p. vii) How sad!

The allegations against EFCC arelegion. They are accused of sending judges on off-shore training ostensibly toimprove their skills.

Then this laughable story in TheGuardian of Thursday, May 12, 2011 on page 5 that only recently, defencelawyers and relatives of detained bank chiefs chased operatives of the EFCC roundLagos as the Commission sought an ex parte order to remand them in custody foranother two weeks.

In a mild drama that ensued, lawyersand relatives of the banks chiefs followed EFCC officials from the Awolowo roadoffice of the Commission to a Magistrate court in Oyingbo, near Ebute Metta. EFCC had tried to avoid having any lawyerspresent by driving to Sabo, Yaba Magistrate court and then quickly making theirway to Oyingbo in order to shake them off. Is this truly the path to justice?

It is now difficult to reconcile thecharges in court with statements made by EFCC to the Press confirming what theAttorney General stated above.

The strategy is as follows: Plantdamaging allegations against the accused in the media; it doesn’t matterwhether or not these accusations have been thoroughly investigated. It doesn’tmatter either, if they are true or false. Just say them in public or leak themto the media. Because the allegations are salacious, they will get prominentheadlines in the media and in so doing, further damage the credibility of theaccused and demonize him or her; and in damaging the character and reputationof the accused, the stories will enable us justify our actions.

Law-abiding Nigerians are thereforeworried that the current leadership of EFCC is hardly respected outside Nigeriaand is not warmly received by the government of the United States of America.Not a few Nigerians were also shocked last week when the EFCC Chairman, FaridaWaziri, publicly disagreed with her boss Adoke Mohammed, SAN, Attorney General,who had strongly recommended the merger of ICPC and EFCC. Since when did publicofficers begin to fight for supremacy with their bosses on the pages of papers?

To urgently restore rule of law toour land, in addition to reconstituting the economic team, there is urgent needto reform EFCC if President Goodluck Jonathan hopes to succeed in his economicrenewal agenda because the rule of law is a sine qua non for foreigninvestments.

Ms. Wariboko is a Port Harcourtbased Human Rights Attorney