By Umar Egebe
Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, a foremost Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), and human rights lawyer, is proposing that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) ought not to be prosecuting state government officials for corruption.
On Friday on Arise TV, and in a letter to the National Assembly a few days earlier, Agbakoba based his theory on the ground, among others, that the Commission was, according to him, not lawfully created.
The first time I recall him making that argument was on December 19, 2022, when the EFCC began tightening its noose around Yahaya Bello, who was then Kogi State governor, following a N10 billion corruption case against his nephew and a previous N20 billion bailout controversy.
Agbakoba called a press conference in Lagos to argue, among others, that a state can spend its money anyhow it likes, without the anti-graft agency asking questions.
“I believe that case should not be the business of the EFCC, at all. Is it their business how Kogi spends their money? Even if it is their business, is it their lawful business to make that enquiry?” the lawyer said.
This argument, as morally fatigued as it appears to be, is, of course, one that resonates with Bello and his kinsman and successor in office, Usman Ododo.
Bello is the unwilling defendant in a multiple money laundering charge. He is accused by the EFCC of looting N80,246,470,089.88k and N110,446,470,089.00k making a total of N192 billion from the people of Kogi State during his eight-year tenure from 2016 to 2024.
He has protested his innocence, but he has also been on the run, having been declared wanted by the court, despite failed bids to halt his arraignment and trial judicially.
Agbakoba’s theory will appeal to other state government officials accused of corruption and is one that they and others before them have made.
Never mind that, according to the EFCC, the matter has already been settled in a 2010 case involving Jolly Nyame, a former governor of Taraba State.
Already, Kogi State, governed by Bello’s kinsman Usman Ododo, is the original plaintiff in a suit by 16 states, contesting the constitutionality of the laws establishing the EFCC.
Among other reliefs, Kogi State wants “A declaration that the EFCC, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), or any agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria cannot investigate, requisition documents, invite and or arrest anyone with respect to offences arising from or touching on the administration and management of funds belonging to Kogi State of Nigeria or any Local Government Area of Kogi State.”.
As should be expected, the Federal Government has opposed them through the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, who described the suit as an abuse of court process.
The Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing on the suit for Tuesday, October 22.
If, God forbid, the suit succeeds, the EFCC could lose the power to prosecute state government officials to, for instance, the police. Yes, the same police that have been, sadly, so weakened by the government at all levels that they were even said to have been involved in preventing the Commission from arresting Bello, despite knowing full well that a court of competent jurisdiction had declared him wanted.
The learned Silk believes his proposals are in line with the law, but the fact is there would be no need for an EFCC in the first place if the police could do the job.
The EFCC, no matter its flaws (and which organisation doesn’t have flaws?) is locally and internationally recognised as the only agency in Nigeria that stands a good chance at tackling this monster called corruption, especially by politically exposed persons.
In opposing the suit by the states, Fagbemi argued that the anti-corruption agencies couldn’t cease to exist, saying “If we do not kill Corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria”.
Corruption has almost completely destroyed the country. In my view, we should not be seen to be calling for the destruction of the only agency that has shown the will and capacity – despite formidable opposition over the years – to confront the monster.
Thankfully other senior lawyers like Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) have faulted the states’ case and that of Agbakoba.
In a letter to House of Representatives Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, Mr. Falana said: “The Supreme Court has consistently supported the efforts of the ICPC and EFCC in fighting the miasma of monumental corruption in the country.”
He recalled that several former governors have continued to question the locus standi of the EFCC to arrest, investigate and prosecute them for the criminal diversion of public funds belonging to state governments.
He said the Commission has powers under section 13 (2) of the EFCC Act to prosecute offences so long as they are financial crimes.
Some state governments already have a penchant for terminating grave economic and financial crimes by filing nolle prosequi applications against cases filed by the EFCC or other prosecutorial agencies.
Others also approach courts to procure frivolous court injunctions to frustrate the prosecution of public officers thereby making a mockery of public accountability and transparency in government.
This happens, despite the existence of the EFCC, how much more if the Commission is deprived of its prosecutorial powers.
We, the people of Nigeria, ought not to let this happen. Rather than further weakening the agency, we must throw our weight behind it.
We ought to help strengthen the Commission, the justice system and the country by calling on Bello to obey the law and surrender himself for trial.
The impoverished people of Kogi are not interested legal gymnastics; their concern is whether one man looted N192bn of their scarce resources and, if true, that it be returned and justice served on the thief.
