Resolving the Bello-EFCC impasse

THE Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) is a national institution that Nigerians must treasure. It has fought corruption commendably over the years, recovered humongous sums, and saved the nation from ruin in many respects. However, in carrying out its mandate, the commission has often made a number of avoidable errors. A few examples will suffice. In March 2022, Willie Obiano, immediate past governor of Anambra State, was sipping water in detention and scrolling through his phone. It was a most private moment. Unfortunately, however, an EFCC operative close by was secretly recording the event, and promptly uploaded it on social media, apparently with the intention to humiliate the Anambra politician. If the gambit was to demean the ex-governor, it backfired spectacularly as the nation rose in condemnation of the needless invasion of the man’s privacy. Among other outraged voices, the Anambra State Traditional Rulers Council, in a statement signed by its Chairman and Obi of Onitsha, Professor Nnaemeka Achebe, said it was embarrassed over the viral video showing Obiano dressed in red boxer shorts and a white T-shirt in the EFCC custody. The commission apologized for the indiscretion, and promised punishment for the culprit, but much damage had been done.

Sad as the event was, it wasn’t without precedent. In July 2018, a tweet emanated from the EFCC’s Twitter handle, saying that the commission had dusted a N1.3 billion fraud case filed against the then outgoing Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti.  Again, the nation was boiling with rage, because the tweet came barely hours after INEC announced the results of the governorship election in the state wherein Fayose’s candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola-Eleka of the PDP lost to Mr Kayode Fayemi of the APC. It was clear that the EFCC had overstepped the bounds of professional decency. Of course, the commission apologized, but incalculable damaged had been done to its integrity as a crime-fighting outfit.

The foregoing captures the point of this piece. In prosecuting crimes, real or imagined, investigating agencies must abide by the rule of law, and must be thorough and professional, leaving no room for sentiments and mob rule. Those who insist on due process want punishment for crime and criminals, just like everyone else. What they do not want, and what the nation should decry, is strong-arm tactics by anti-graft agencies. Such tactics are, sadly, evident in the ongoing case of the EFCC versus the immediate past governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yayaha Bello. On this score, the well respected professor of law, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, noted:  “The situation has been compounded by the order of injunction granted by a Kogi State High Court restraining the commission from arresting or attempting to arrest the former governor. The alleged breach of the order so irked the judge who issued it that he apparently had no option but to cite the EFCC boss for contempt.”

The Court of Appeal has given the EFCC boss some respite, but this was patently avoidable. The commission should have waited while the legal processes were sorted out. The fact that it overruled a pending court hearing and sought to arrest Bello in a Gestapo manner leaves much to be desired. There is no compelling reason why it should have circumvented due process. After all, the documents with which it intends to prosecute Bello are safe in its possession.  Because of shoddy prosecutions by the police and the anti-graft agencies, the Tinubu administration will pay judgment debt amounting to N341.23 billion this year. The Metropolitan Police reportedly spent nearly five years investigating ex-Governor James Ibori without making any noise about it. Here, anti-graft actively hug media blitzkrieg, leading to charges of persecuting rather than prosecuting suspects. This tactic of public lynching apparently explains the former Kogi helmsman’s refusal to surrender to the EFCC in violation of court order. This position is unassailable in my view. Bello is alleged to have stolen N80.2 billion just weeks after he assumed office, but reports indicate that all that Kogi State earned that year was about N50 billion. The former governor was also accused of transferring $720,000 to the school of his children in Abuja, few weeks before he left office, yet the school confirmed that the payment was made in 2021 by the Bello family, not the then governor.

According to Bello’s media office, “when the EFCC approached the school to “illegally recover the funds legitimately paid by Alhaji Yahaya Bello and other family members, a member of the family challenged the EFCC’s unlawful acts.” This is actually true. The Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, did indeed invalidate the refund of the said school fees to the EFCC. On page 14 of the judgment, the court, in a judgment delivered by Hon. Justice Modupe Osho-Adebiyi  on 23rd November, 2023, held as follows: “It is hereby declared that there is a binding contract between the claimant and the defendant in respect of prepaid school fees until graduation. It is hereby declared that the defendant cannot lawfully and unilaterally grant the “Request for Refund” and pay over to a third party, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or anyone howsoever described, the sum of $760,910.84, or any other sum paid pursuant to the Agreement for Prepaid School Fees until Graduation.” As it is, the EFCC and Bello should respect the laws of the land. While the commission should not preempt the court, Bello, on his part, should keep his calm until the case proper begins. Both parties should stop issuing media statements. They should let the legal process speak.

• Abdulhamiid writes in from Abuja

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