The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been advised to be more civil and professional while discharging their duties in public.
Legal experts who gave this advice were talking on the legality of EFCC'S raiding of Conference Hotel in Ogun State, describing the action as primitive and obnoxious.
Nigerian Newstrack correspondent spoke to Barristers Habeeb Whyte, Semiu Akinbami and Biola Adesanya who all agreed that the EFCC has a right to arrest at anytime, but must act within the confines of the act establishing the commission.
Excerpts of the interview is shown below:
Barrister Habeeb White, in his words said,"I think the approach and manner to which the commission effected arrest on the teeming Nigerian youths at that place was very wrong. It was not done in a normal and civilised manner. It was more or less like a fracas, more like you were coming to fight people, you were coming for war."
"When you are making arrests and you are shooting, you are harrassing people, you are beating them up, you are collecting their phones to be checking. You should have done your thorough research or investigation before coming into that place."
"Fine, EFCC has a right to arrest anybody at anytime they want to do that but it should be done in a cordial and civil manner. What they did that day portrayed the commission as not being a professional body itself."
"That is, in my own simple way ,they never applied caution , common sense with what they did, with all due respect. Imagine you entering an event and you are shutting down the whole light , shooting in the hall, for what? If you are looking for criminals ,are you saying everybody in that all, on that day, are all criminals? If you are to say that everybody in that place are all criminals, does it mean that the commissioner of police that was there on that day is also a criminal too?"
"There are several ways of effecting arrest, we have watched the way FBI would burst into people and will arrest them ,without even affecting the innocent ones."
"It means that the commission only relied on hearsay, they were not sure about who and who they were going there to arrest. How would you arrest people searching phones, stripping them, beating them up, it is very bad. It is very bad for our system and EFCC has portrayed itself in another manner that most of us do not think they should be operating."
"Yes, EFCC is empowered to arrest people, but when you are arresting someone there are procedures to do it, that is what we are saying. We are not saying they should not do their job, all we are saying is that they should follow the rules of law. How could you be barging into people's hotel rooms, destroying properties."
"Now they have arrested, who will repair the damaged properties now, who will do that? Nobody will do it. They are causing more harm, more economic hardship for the hoteliers now. Look at the hotel, they destroyed it, they took people's phones away, who are the people that will get those things back? Is that the law? The law protects everybody, the innocent, the victim ,the guilty one, the law protects everybody. So that when you are carrying out your own lawful duties it has to be in accordance with the law."
Barrister Semiu Akinbami in his own submission said, "there can not be raiding indiscriminately. They must have got an information about a person or group of persons. But it cannot be like the number of people arrested at the conference hotel like 60, 70. No!"
"Granted they can arrest and investigate but it cannot be 60 people at thesame time, in a confine place like conference hotel. I understand those people were there for socials, giving them awards , how can that constitute.., they can not all be criminals. How can they say they want to investigate all of those who came for an award."
"But if after investigation they realised that they are not affected or they have not committed any offence the best is to release them unconditionally".
Barrister Biola Adesanya who is handling the release of some of the victims arrested said, "the way and manner they got people apprehended at the area is not ideal at all, is not pleasant, it is an obnoxious act".
In his words, he said "it is an act that is unspeakable, it is a despicable act that should be condemned absolutely, totally".
"Ordinarily, even if EFCC has an informant within or they have an information that some guys are gathering in a place where they want to have a ceremony and award themselves, there is a way they can go about it. The law is clearly written and stated when it comes to issues like that."
"First of all before they can invade people's premises there is what is called search warrant, except there is reasonable ground that criminal activities are going on within that premises, that is when that search warrant would not have a role to play."
"Let them present their search warrant, by the time they present it I am very sure the conference authority will afford them that opportunity to carry out their search or searches. And at that point if they get to any ocassions like that they need not to destroy anybody's property, they need not to harrass anybody other than whosoever they are targeting, whosoever they are suspecting to be the target, they can walk up to such person, presents their warrant of arrest or search warrant and search the person. If they are able to establish any form of criminal nexus or criminal responsibility or if they are able to establish that ok, this person we've come to search, that person is culpable of what they are alleging him of, then at that point they can arrest such person for further investigation."
"Not bumping into an occasion, start harrassing people, start arresting people then take them off. That their action is tantamount to ultra vires action, acting outside the purview, outside the bound of their power. And it is questionable, it is an act that is making us feel there is no law in Nigeria anymore, and we have law, we have good laws. Nobody is above the law, they are not above the law, they are still Federal government agency, they are working for the federal government."
"Even the police is well recognised in the 1999 constitution, more than the EFCC. EFCC was never mentioned in the 1999 constitution, they are not recognised. Even if they want to carry out such operation, it should be the police that would do that not EFCC. What is the full meaning of EFCC? Why are they now going outside the act that established them? Why are they going outside the act that made provisions for their 'does' and 'don'ts'? The only thing they can be seen to be doing is to be infringing on people's fundamental rights. Their action is totally in repungnance to chapter 4 of the 1999 constitution, which has to do with right to presumption of innocence, personal liberty and all."
"Everybody arrested there have their right to be protected under the 1999 constitution. Majority of them are innocent, but the innocent ones that were arrested instead of releasing them. What they should have done, if you arrest anybody and you get to find out that, that person you arrested is an innocent person ,then at that point they should have released such person unconditionally, not giving such person stringent bail conditions to regain his freedom."
"It is wrong, what if the person can not meet up that bail conditions, what would now be his fate? He will be languishing in their custody or in their prison, or in their detention, it is wrong. What is wrong is wrong, let us be factual about what they have done. Coming to invade people's property, late midnight, destroying their property to break in, that is what? As for me, I would refer to them as official criminals."
It would be recalled that the EFCC had few months ago raided some hotels in Abeokuta causing anger from some lodgers who claimed the operatives broke into their rooms and saw them naked.
The recent in their sting operation was the Conference hotel, where the operatives were widely reported as unknown gunmen at the early hours of Sunday morning.
Reports had it, that the men arrived at the hotel in a combat-like manner and shot into the air repeatedly causing panic.
The operatives were said to have arrived the hotel around 2:00 a.m. and left after less than an hour operation. They reportedly went away with over 20 cars and numerous mobile phones.
The commission when contacted denied the raid as both, the Public Relations Officers of the Ibadan and Lagos offices of the EFCC denied knowledge of the alleged invasion.
The spokesperson for Ibadan zone, Tokunbo Odebiyi, said he has no information about the operation.
“I’m not aware of any invasion of any hotel in Abeokuta.”
His counterpart in Lagos, Ayo Oyewole, also said he was unaware of the raid.
The commission later confirmed the raid of Conference Hotel.
Spokesman Wilson Uwujaren said the agency’s operatives came to arrest Yahoo Yahoo Boys who were holding an award ceremony on Saturday night.
The operatives of the Lagos Command arrested 60 suspected internet fraudsters, he said.
The event tagged “Peer Youths Awards”, investigation revealed, was organised to reward high-level internet fraudsters.
