Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, has dismissed claims that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is being used by the APC-led Federal Government to witch-hunt opposition politicians, insisting that the agency’s focus is on fighting corruption irrespective of political affiliation.
“If the EFCC is targeting the organisation as it is being said, then why are these ones not also picked up?”
Olumide-Fusika asked in an interview with ARISE News on Thursday. “If they’ve gone and they’ve asked this gentleman to come to the EFCC to make explanations, it must be because there’s something they’ve found that they need to make explanations about. So I wouldn’t agree that it is targeting the opposition. I’m also sure that there are people in the current administration, and even in the APC, that are facing charges. Would they also be said to be targeted?”
He stressed that “the targeting is of corruption and it doesn’t matter who that person is, whether it’s in the ADC or in the APC or whatever, he should go there, make his explanation. After all, we are used to our powerful people telling us, ‘go to court.’ If you are picked up, you will take your day in court. If you are being witch-hunted, the evidence will show in court that you really didn’t commit this offence. The judges are not targeting you.”
The lawyer, however, cautioned the EFCC against devoting excessive energy to low-level cybercrime cases at the expense of major economic offences. “I’m not too comfortable with the EFCC going after what we call in local parlance… people who tell foreigners we want to marry you and then extort money from it. I don’t know what intelligence there is to them, why they pay attention to that. The problems of Nigeria are beyond that,” he said.
Olumide-Fusika also criticised the agency’s occasional publicity stunts, such as night raids on social gatherings. “People are having fun at a party in Obasanjo’s library and then you go there to arrest… I wouldn’t think that’s the kind of thing a specialised institution like the EFCC should be doing. But unfortunately, we operate in an environment where you can’t but expect things like that to happen. I’m not excusing it, but when the institution tries to do something, we shouldn’t be discouraging them.”
He urged the EFCC to improve its transparency by publicly naming and shaming corrupt insiders. “If there are bad eggs within the organisation and you’ve dealt with them, why are you not letting the public know who they are and what offences they committed? The organisation needs to open up. Fortunately, you have Nigerians behind you — no Nigerian, even the corrupt ones, wants this situation to continue.”
On whether the EFCC has been purged of corrupt officials as claimed by its leadership, Olumide-Fusika replied: “The system itself has been overtaken, overwhelmed by corruption. The EFCC is just tokenism. We are not throwing the bomb we need to throw at the infestation. The effectiveness of the EFCC depends more on the political will of those in power to ensure the organisation is independent, allowed to operate free of influences.”
He warned that political interference has long undermined the anti-graft body’s work. “This criticism has been on since Obasanjo’s time when the institution was set up — that it is being used against political opponents. How effective it is depends on the sincerity of the political leadership. If the political will is there, why would pressure overwhelm the ability to do the right thing?”
Olumide-Fusika concluded with a call for national responsibility: “If the country is not functioning well, no matter how much you make, you will not be okay. Irrespective of your professional or personal interest, it is our duty to save our country. Prevent these things from happening. We should not look at it from a selfish point of view alone.”
Boluwatife Enome
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