EFCC, you ruined our party

We may forcibly agree that there is virtually no place a daring child cannot defecate. Yes, there are such audacious children. Indeed, “Some mothers do have them.” However the prospects of living with the consequences of doing such brazen acts at forbidden places is another kettle of fish. In some situations, such children are sometimes allowed to taste the brew from some of their actions and helpless obstinacy. This is because there are consequences for all actions – or, as it is said in science, action begets equal and opposite reaction. To communicate this via indigenous phraseology, one will say that it is of no need to dissuade a child who wishes to take it out on the Iroko, so long as such a child is prepared to take up residence alone in the forest.

The younger demographic of the country’s population will recall that Nigeria was celebrated recently all over the world. It is still ongoing. And it is quite heart-warming to see Nigeria and Nigerians come under so much analysis for the creative power of its citizens and the illustrious display of their imaginative prowess. The 12th edition of the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) held on the 9th of May in Lagos, was the platform through which the world saw what stuff Nigerians are made of. Through the Red Carpet of that glamorous event, the world saw that Nigeria is a credible hive of intuitive talents, bubbly energy, pristine ideas and buzzing creativity. This has remained the talk of the fashion world.

For once, Nigeria was not on the lips of the talking world for being a cesspit of impunity, insecurity, crime and corruption. The fashion at the red carpet of the last AMVCA awards ceremony is still being viewed as one of the best of its kind in the history of entertainment or, at least in living memory. It was one event which showed the world what is locked within this beautiful country currently being ruined by utterly poor leadership. The world saw that the only thing needed to unleash the immense potential of the country is strong and upright leadership. So, when Nigerians find a way through which they can let out steam and express themselves in the country, they take that opportunity and make the utmost best of it.

That famed poor leadership bedevilling Nigeria has also granted its public institutions the latitude to carry on with unfathomable level of impunity. On top this impunity is repulsive high-handedness and arrogance. Public institutions in Nigeria act so lawlessly on a number of occasions because they know that they are the type of child that can run their mouth at the Iroko without consequences. These institutions sometimes carry out their duties without recourse to the laws of the land, especially the constitution. In some cases they run with the impression that they exist only as instruments in the hands of the powerful, rather than being a tool through which we can attain an egalitarian country.

That is why the display by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, recently is condemnable. The operation by EFCC personnel at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH) on 12 May, 2026 spoilt the fun Nigerians were enjoying with the outcome of the AMVCA awards, and threw spanner in the works as Nigeria serenaded in the euphoria of positive media. We know that the EFCC has a lot of hunting grounds. There were reports of the commission’s invasion of a hotel in Akure, Ondo State. They had reportedly broken into suspects’ homes and had even had one of its operatives shot in the process of doing that. Why go to a hospital, armed and defiant? It shows lack of professionalism.

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Reports as these hover around the borders of humanitarian consequences, and that is why they usually overshadow all the good works the commission is doing across the country. Think about the mental, the emotional and the physical impact of a tactical operation in an environment as sensitive as that of a functioning hospital, by agents of a crime-fighting organisation. Tear gas was even used! And the country is not at war? An indifferent statement by the EFCC says that the chairman of the commission, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, “has directed that an apology be made to Professor EyoEkpe, the Deputy Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee of UUTH, and members of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA.” This came after the EFCC initially said it did not carry out a tactical operation at the UUTH and continued back and forth on the unfortunate incident.

Now that the commission’s chairman “has directed that an apology be made” to Professor Ekpe and the hospital’s doctors through the NMA, who will extract an apology for the traumatised patients, nurses, and other staff members who ran when EFCC operatives stormed their workspace? Who will direct that an apology be made to them? These things are quite avoidable, and the heads of our institutions know this. As much as we desire the EFCC and also wish that it does its job as well as possible, something must remain constant in the midst of the whole process: Respect for the rights of others. Convicts lose certain rights after their conviction, but until they are convicted, they remain innocent until proven guilty. That is what we generally know about law and its practice in Nigeria. So, where is the unrestrained attack in wrong places coming from? What encourages these acts that detract from the successes recorded?

As recently as Friday, May 15, 2026, Catholic Pontiff Leo XIV gave a very concise guide to people involved in the fight against organised and related crimes, like the EFCC. Pope Leo XIV spoke while addressing participants in the Inter-parliamentary conference on combating organised crime in the OSCE Region. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), being an inter-governmental regional security organisation, needed the Papal charge as this has lessons it could teach sundry outfits like our own EFCC.

While these operatives were in Rome for their second inter-parliamentary conference on the fight against organised crime in their region, they took to the advice of Chief Oluwasegunota Bolarinwa of the Kegites Club, National Headquarters. It was common with Chief Oluwasegunota Bolarinwa, who reigned in the 1992/1993 Session in the University of Ibadan, to always advise us back then that “When you are in Rome, you roam about.” It was his own way of telling us to do the needful at each opportunity. So, the delegates to the OSCE conference did the needful by getting to the Vatican in Rome for a special audience with the Pope. And the Pope graciously addressed them.

The Catholic Pontiff said: “The Holy See is fully convinced that the rule of law, crime prevention and criminal justice must advance together in unity. Indeed, the authentic implementation of the rule of law remains indispensable for integral human development. No truly just society can endure unless the law, and not the arbitrary will of individuals, remains sovereign. While no person or group, regardless of power or status, may ever claim the right to violate the dignity or rights of others or of their communities. Therefore, preventing and responding to criminal activities is closely inter-related with the respect for and protecting of universal human rights.”

The EFCC violated the rights of the numerous vulnerable Nigerians in that hospital in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Tuesday, 12 May, 2026. The EFCC trampled violently on the rights of those who did not commit the crime for which its operatives invaded the hospital. The EFCC failed as an organisation to play by the universal rules of tactical engagement in such facilities. The EFCC should be taken up beyond the issuance of apologies for their crime against those they had no issue with. The EFCC should know that a hospital is not a hunting ground for criminals and therefore must be made to compensate the affected families and individuals as much as the law can allow. This is not too much as a way of reinforcing the rights of individuals and communities. We must employ the laws to protect law and order in our society. When the idol begins to misbehave, it will be shown the tree from which it was carved – the EFCC is a creation of the law; the EFCC cannot be above the law.