No fewer than 40 Civil Society Organisations have protested what they described as the incessant disobedience of court orders by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and failure to investigate several petitions, calling for the sanction of the anti-graft agency’s Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa.
The CSOs alleged that the EFCC now brazenly disobey orders of courts and by so doing undermining rule of law. They also said the several petitions on corruption sent to the commission had been left unattended, especially when they are against some powerful figures.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos yesterday, the CSOs, led by the Chairman, Centre for Anti-corruption and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran; Executive Director, Zero Graft Centre, Kolawole Sanchez-Jude; Chairman, Coalition Against Corruption and Bad Governance, Toyin Raheem; Executive Director, Centre for Public Accountability, Olufemi Lawson; and Ahmed Balogun of Media Rights Concern, among others, said EFCC’s disobedience of court orders was recipe for anarchy.
According to the anti-graft bodies, the recent order by a court ordering Bawa to be committed to prison for disobeying Court orders shows how bad the situation has become.
They said: “EFCC disobeying court orders must stop. Nigeria is not a banana republic. Attempts by institutions of state to ridicule the country and make it seem like a lawless fiefdom must be resisted by all. The EFCC seems to be allowing itself to be used as an instrument of political witch-hunt as it targets some individuals more than many others.
“Some of our organizations have submitted several petitions to the commission, which it has refused to act on even when you sit with them to reason on the merits of those petitions. Once there is a political interest the whole processes of investigation and litigation become politicized.
“The Commission seems only to act with gusto against perceived political enemies of some powerful political forces in the country rather than being neutral and professional. For instance, the Ogun state Assembly Speaker was bundled Gestapo-style to Abuja on corruption allegations while several similar petitions elsewhere have been left untouched by the Commission. Where is the justice, the impartiality and the professionalism?”
While insisting that “he who comes into equity must come with clean hands,” the CSOs said: “We note that by the continued disobedience of the orders of the Courts, Mr. AbdulRasheed Bawa and the EFCC have displayed utter contempt for our courts and the country’s judicial system. It is ironic that these are the same courts the EFCC routinely runs to for orders, which they zealously implement in the discharge of their mandate under the EFCC Act.
“It is not for EFCC and its leadership to pick and choose which court orders to obey or disregard. That is an invitation to anarchy.”
Other leaders of the CSOs, who attended the press briefing, include Ologun Ayodeji,
Transparency and Accountability Group; Declan Ihehaire, Activists for Good Governance; and Ochiaga Jude, Centre for Ethics and Good Governance, among others.