EFCC Must Bark And Bite In This Era Of Change Manifestation!

ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER. A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church, Kpeyegyi, Abuja Nigeria. [VOL. 4. NO 122. 13th December, 2015.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You Free! (John.8:32).

EFCC MUST BARK AND BITE IN THIS ERA OF CHANGE MANIFESTATION!

Before the advent of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2003, the onus of crime prevention, detection and prosecution in Nigeria was vested o n the Police Criminal Investigation Department and the EFCC at inception could be aptly described as an off-shoot of the Nigeria Police Force because not less than 99 per cent of its pioneer staff was seconded from Police CID while civil servants were engaged to handle d administrative matters. P re and post independence court prosecutors who served at the M agistrates and High Courts between 1950 and late eighties were sparsely educated sergeants and inspectors , very ill equipped, inexperienced and not well-grounded in legal in t r icacies and therefore lost cases either on technical grounds or lack of sufficient and adequate evidences for convictions. T he recruitment of university graduates from sundry disciplines into the N igeria P olice F orce (NPF), though not very attractive at that time, eventually raised the quality of prosecution but not of prevention and detection because the same half- baked members of the lower cadre still held sway in those sectors!

That error of virtually carving out EFC C from the NPF during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Administration instead of generating a brand new well-educated staff grounded in criminology , sociology, philosophy and other relevant courses from the foundation level turned out to be a wrong move of placing square pegs in round holes because : 1. T he then CID team had insignificant impact on resolving crime sit uation as Nigeria was adjudged one of 23 countries of the world where corruption bred and grew wings at the turn of the century without inhibition ; 2. B ecause the new Nigerian law enforcement Agency was prematurely birthed through international pressure by Financial Action Task Force (FATF), to conform to international best practice and ; 3. A lso to fulfil a portion of the ruling government’s manifesto to “ fight corruption ” which was endemic in the polity !

An officer of the rank of Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), who was not a crack detective but the son of a former Minister of the first republic, for political patronage, was seconded as Chairman of EFCC , (a post which should have been headed by a Commissioner), and he automatically became a pawn in the hand of Mr. President who used him to haunt , harass and arrest his pre-supposed and imaginary political enemies who suffered unconstitutional detentions at the hands of the low-rated/corrupt operatives who slammed them with trump-up charges most of which failed at the courts and in some cases, were never prosecuted for lack of concrete evidences! From inception, EFCC carved a very bad niche of un professional ism as a crime agency due to its “ modus operandi ” of advertisement of arrest s and prosecuti on of alleged suspects of financial fee fraud and money laundering on electronic and print media though which depicted a very glaring sign of professional and administrative weakness – since all s uspects were presumed constitutionally innocent in Nigeria until proved otherwise and after all said and done, most of such cases were eventually lost if the y ever got to the courts ! E FCC’ s game was that of : “T he much noise made in the Press, the much more dissemination of falsehood that much work was being done while in truth, a scenario of motion without movement was usually exhibited ! ” To date, with the exception of a very few, all former governors who were alleged by EFCC to have looted the Nigerian Treasury since 1999 have neither been formerly charged nor arrested but are getting richer and richer by the day at the expense of the poor taxpayers money because aside of the fact that they had all collected severance allowances running into billions of naira, they transited to occupy sensitive positions and offices of Senators and Federal Ministers even in the new government of Change impe r ativ e! E FCC ‘s website revealed that several government officials including late Diepreye Alamieyese gha, former governor of Bayelsa State were arrested in the year 2005 while 31 of Nigeria’s 36 State Governors were already under investigation for corruption by September, 2006, including many expatriate business concerns and their operators who were equally under the agency’ s searchlight! Some expatriates including famous Vaswani Brothers were sanctioned for fraudulent business practices but in December 2007, the Nigerian Federal Government, “ after extensive investigations by EFCC and other anti-graft organisations”, cleared and absolved the expatriate s who we re initially accused of acts of sabotage and subsequently deported, of any wrong doing and invited them back into the country according to “ This Day ” and other major newspapers which quoted copiously from government’ s issued statement in a veiled indictment on the old EFCC! Another high-profile fee fraud case was instigated i n the following year, April 2008, against the daughter of former Nigerian President, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo Bello , by EFCC operatives who alleged that she received N10 million (US$ 100.000),stolen from the Federal Ministry of Health and also another theft of over N30.000.000 (US$300 .000), with her deputy from unspent funds of the previous year while she was Commissioner for Health in Ogun State. This case like many others before it were celebrated on the pages of newspapers, magazines and the internet and fizzled into oblivion while the EFCC website which contains a list of most wanted criminals kept promising the nation that it would bring all of them to justice! EFCC which was constitutionally legalized by the N ational Assembly (NASS), on 4 Jun e, 2004, in its Mission Statement promised to rid Nigeria of economic and financial crimes and to effectively co-ordinate the domestic effort of the global fight against money laundering and terrorists financing but it is yet to be seen if the new EFCC under the watchful supervision of President Buhari and his dedicated Minister of Internal Affairs, would fulfil its constitutional mandate or not because except crime and criminality are put in proper perspective and contained, t hey would pose serious challenge to peace and good governance! The citizens now expect a new crop of crack operatives poised to erase the distorted image of the old EFCC which controversies terminated on 29 May, 2015, and prove to the taxpayers and the electorate that they we re capable and poised with the Change mantra to deliver creditably and with distinction on all high-profile cases which they are now saddled with!

For instance, recent high-profile cases worthy of mention include: 4. New EFCC versus retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki, former National Security Adviser to ex-President Ebele Jonathan, five other Nigerians and two corporate firms; 5. New EFCC versus High Chief Raymond Dokpesi , former Chairman of DAAR Communications, owners of African Independent Television (AIT), and Ray Power radio station; and the corporate DAAR firm . 6. A host of other high-profile corrupt individuals ran ging from top law enforcement officer s to several bank chief executives and former governors .

Already, the Press and the social media are awash with negative commentaries on the outcome of all high profile cases now being prosecuted by EFCC lawyers and have predicted definite failures at all fronts especially the financial fee fraud and money laundering cases against Raymond Dokpesi who was accused of collecting the sum of N2.1billion from the National Security Adviser’s domiciled account with the Central Bank to prosecute the presidential campaigns of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the 2015 General Elections without Certificate Objection to Contract Awards duly issued by the Bureau of Public Procurement and receiving payment for the said contract without bidding for it! He was also accused of another fraud offence of N8.4 billion through a FIFA contract of the Under 17 Championships hoisted by Nigeria in January 2012! Dasuki on his part was accused of laundering US$2.2 billion arms deal fund in collaboration with former Sokoto State Governor, Attahiru Bafarawa, his son, Sagir ; former Minister of State for Finance, Barshir Yuguda, Shuaibu Salihu, a former Director of Finance at the NSA Office and a Company, Dalhatu Investment Limited and would all face a 22-count charge of fraud and money laundering at the commencement of trial! They claimed “sub ju dice” that the charges were frivolous and that the way they were crafted would definitely favour the accused person because EFCC’s legal team lacked the expertise to win the case and that all of his transactions with Dasuki and the NSA‘s Office were legal and well-documented ! It is very imperative to ensure that the new EFCC would ensure a very good outing and whichever direction it swayed – whether conviction or freedom for the accused persons, JUSTICE MUST BE SEEN TO HAVE BEEN DONE. Similarly, new EFCC needed to forge synergy of cordial working relationship with other crime prevention agencies of the Police, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Directorate of Secur ity Services (DSS), to also ensure a lasting institution of the CRIMINAL JU STICE SYSTEM which would not condemn innocent suspects on the pages of NEWSPAPERS and TELEVISION SETS even before the y were arraig ned for prosecution before law courts of competent jurisdiction!

Tenets of the Rule of Law would ensure necessary judicial impartia lity in governan ce as the third tier without exacting undeserved influences of party affiliation or patronage to favour suspects loyal to ruling government or injustice to those in opposition! THE SOUL THAT SINNETH SHALL DIE....BUT THE RIGHTEOUS SHOULD NOT BE MADE TO SUFFER IN THE POSITION OF THE WICKED! Nigerians should constantly intercede in prayers that the new Change manifestation government of President Buhari should live above board and always display the BOLD BANNER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR WHICH IT HAS BEEN CREDITED! EFCC must not be witch-hunters but crime defaulter hounds ! It should be di sc r eet in investigations and arrests, SHUT UP IN OPERATIONS PROPAGANDA BUT SPEAK UP IN COURTS AND WIN ALL CASES CREDITABLY ! Nigerians are tired of the dramas please !

Please look forward to more divine revelation in the next edition of Zion B-BC Newsletter as you share this with friends and remain blessed in the Lord.

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If you have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior , don’t miss this great opportunity as you pray this prayer: Lord Jesus; I confess that I am a sinner who needs to be saved through the grace of the New Testament of your Blood, shed on the Cross at Calvary; I renounce every sin in my life and accept you as my Lord and Savior . Please forgive me and write my name in the Book of Life. Amen. If you prayed this prayer, you have been admitted into the family of sons and daughters of God, who are born-again. Congratulations. I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor. 08130669886, 08098194390. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com .