At last, the expected date for the ruling in the appeal filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission against the judgement of a Kogi State High Court barring it from arresting former Governor Yahaya Bello is here. The ruling of the Court of Appeal in Abuja is expected to be delivered today, with many Nigerians waiting anxiously for it.
Whatever the outcome of the ruling, the EFCC has been in the news for the very reasons it promised to guard against.
In the case against Bello, a former two-term Governor of Kogi State, the anti-corruption agency resorted to self-help last week, seeking to arrest him despite its pending appeal at the Court of Appeal against the judgment of a Kogi State High Court. The court in Kogi State had granted the prayer of Bello in February 2024 and further told the commission in a ruling on April 17, 2024 to stop his harassment and stop issuing negative press releases on him.
The decision to storm the house of Bello in Abuja runs contrary to the promise made by the Chairman of the commission, Ola Olukoyede, when he was appointed by President Bola Tinubu. Olukoyede, a lawyer by training, had vowed to operate by the rule of law and not allow the continuation of political interpretations into its work.
That was exactly what the anti-graft agency fell into when it stormed the home of Bello in Abuja last week. This was a further slip in its move to arraign Bello, which started with a misstep. The first of this was accusing Bello in one of its charges as having committed an offence as governor even before he was sworn in. In another obvious misstep, the EFCC in its amended charges against Bello, said he allegedly stole N80.2 billion in his first three weeks in office as governor.
Curiously, in the first year of Bello as governor, Kogi State received about N50 billion from all sources, according to documents made available by the state government. In his eight years in power, the state government earned N750 billion.
Questions are then bound to be asked.
How could Bello have stolen N80.2 billion in his first three weeks in office? How could he have stolen that much if the state earned N50 billion in the first one year of the former governor in the saddle? Is this one of the cases that Olukoyede alluded to when he said operatives use unsubstantiated allegations to milk the accused? Is this one of the cases where, like that which involved a former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, huge sums are quoted as having been stolen and then the charges are amended until it becomes ridiculous?
In the case of Daniel, he was accused of having stolen over N60 billion. In the end, before the case was eventually thrown out, the sum involved had been reduced to about N200 million.
The EFCC has come a long way and should not allow its image to be further battered. In the past week, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission has been garnering accolades for the quiet but effective manner in which it has been carrying out its operations devoid of the media trial that EFCC has adopted over the years with little to show for it. Rather than keeping the style of first arresting a suspect quoting bogus figures that can’t be proven, and then finding out that it has no fact, it should relinquish the style of the Nigeria Police Force, which in most cases will first arrest before commencing investigation.
This came to the fore in the trial of a former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, who was dragged to court over allegations of fraud in the handling of OML 245. In the end, after a trial that lasted several years, the EFCC admitted that it did not do its homework well, with the court discharging and acquitting Adoke.
It should be obvious that most of those canvassing for Olukoyede to break the law are doing so out of the media blitz they will enjoy and not out of love for him. It should also be clear to him that those opposed to the Gestapo-like approach to handling cases and suspects are doing so out of genuine concern for the agency that the likes of now National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, and former Inspector General of Police, Farida Waziri, laid for the EFCC.
They are also concerned for the anti-corruption commission not to lose its integrity by being just successful at getting the conviction of ‘Yahoo Boys’ and allowing genuine cases involving Politically Exposed Persons to fall into being termed political persecution because of the way they are handled. Inasmuch as the commission has won cases involving Politically Exposed Persons, there are several of such cases that have been dismissed for lack of diligent investigation and diligent prosecution, and many lingering for several years in court.
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Nigerians will keep referring to cases involving Nigerians handled outside the country for this reason and for which conviction has been obtained. This time, not just for Politically Exposed Persons, but also involving big time frauds. Such cases when they go to court are already settled in terms of investigation, leaving the suspects with the only available option: Pleading guilty. This is the height the EFCC should aim for. And not what we have come to term media trials in Nigeria.
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