Alleged Mismanagement Of N467m: Senate Committee Is A Blackmailing Tool-: HURIWA Alleges

The report emanating from the 9th session of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Retd. Gen. Muhammad Buba Marwa has shunned the investigative hearing by the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly on the alleged mismanagement of N467 million, has been described as a blackmail and a media spin automated and escalated by the Senate Committee in an attempt to bamboozle, intimidate and harass the Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA into submission for a behind the doors negotiation for consequential Financial inducements.

Prominent pro-democracy and Not-for-profit organisation- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has asked the Senate to stop the unnecessary distractions targeted at the maximum disruption of the effectiveness and overwhelming combative approaches against dreaded hard drugs’ barons and traffickers currently being waged vigorously by the just appointed Chairman, Chief Executive Officer of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency Retired Brigadier General Mohammed Buba Marwa who wasn’t the person in charge at the time of the alleged financial infractions being investigated by the Senate.  

“HURIWA is in the possession of unassailable evidence that the current leadership of NDLEA were never served with any summons or invitations by the Senate Public accounts Committee headed by Senator Mathew Uroghide. How do you go to the media and cast aspersions on the head of a government agency who is unaware that his presence is required before the Senators? This ambushing pattern is the past time of the National Assembly members aimed at deploying the media of mass communication to first demonise a public office holder with seemingly yet unblemished records and then to go behind to engage in negotiations for alleged bribes for the members.”

“Since the year 2019 both houses of the National Assembly have done the same things to many Federal agencies yet this same National Assembly has been unable to specifically stop some notoriously corrupt Directors General of agencies only because those ones have special packages for the National Assembly members. This same blackmailing tool was deployed by the Senate against STARTIMES/NTA and when it would seemed the National Assembly and the Chinese led management of STARTIMES have gone behind the doors to allegedly  exchange monetary funds and bribes then the attacks against NTA/STARTIMES stopped and the accusations that STARTIMES was guilty  of capital flight flew away through the windows of the National Assembly and it has been business as usual.” 

“Our investigation showed that indeed there were established case of inducements that go on as soon as the National Assembly committees shouts like mad dogs in the media and the fearful Chief executives go for settlement of the matter which would be over and there would be silence of the graveyards and the media won’t ask the Senators about the status of those investigations.”

HURIWA recalled that the Senate Committee claimed that it’s disagreement with NDLEA stemmed  from a memorandaum from the Auditor-General of the Federation in file  number B/2009/OAGF/CAD/026/V dated 24th March, 2009, which stipulates that ‘All Accounting Officers and officers controlling expenditures are to ensure that all local procurement of stores and services costing above N200,000.00 shall be made only by No. award of contracts’. The Chairman/Chief Executive should recover the sum of N8,629,600.00, as this cannot be regarded as a legitimate charge against public funds.

The Senate accused NDLEA’S 2016 management thus: “The Director-General used green ink in giving approval for payments. This contravened Financial Regulation 3002 which restricts the use of green ink to the staff of the Auditor-General for the Federation. “The Chairman/Chief Executive should henceforth restrain the Director-General from this practice. All the issues raised were brought to the attention of the Chairman/Chief Executive, but no response was received from the NDLEA”.

HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA has therefore called the National Assembly as a cesspool of corruption for seeking to deploy media platforms to demonise officials of government agencies especially those very few persons that for now appear to be accountable and transparent and try to humiliate them into submission to allegedly play their bribes seeking gambit.

HURIWA accused the Senate of similarly blackmailing the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA which was grilled by the Senate over a joint venture arrangement entered into between the agency and a Chinese media firm, Beijing Star Group, in 2008 known as NTA-Star TV Network.

“HURIWA followed the trajectory of this botched investigation which actually was a blackmailing tool by the politicians to compel financial inducements because the Senators then alleged that there were ‘staggering revelations’ of how officials of NTA allegedly connived with Joint Venture Partners, Star Times to defraud the country.The Senate said that a total of N200 billion was missing and carted out of the country which represents what would have been remitted as profits since 2008.

The Upper Chamber then called for a Special Investigation into the record books of NTA/Star Times Joint Venture asking the Management to return roughly N200billion generated since 2008.”

HURIWA recalled that the alleged bribe seeking law makers  again stoked up trouble again when the Director-General, NTA, Yakubu Ibn Mohammed appeared before the Senator Olamilekan Adeola, All Progressives Congress, APC, Lagos West led Senate Joint Committee on Finance and National Planning Stakeholders on the details of the 2021and 2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) forwarded last month by President Muhammadu Buhari to present NTA’s projections.” 

” HURIWA  learnt that then the  Senate also asked the NTA to go full Commercial, just as it has mandated the Budget Office to remove the Organisation from the Federal Government Budget for the government to stop paying salaries, carrying out capital and other expenditure, adding that with this, the NTA will not come to the National Assembly to defend budgets anymore. However, the Rights group accused the Senate of sale out because the NTA/STARTIMES still operate under sane templates that brought about the investigative hearing by the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly but nothing more is heard from the noisy neighbours of corrupt Directors General of federal agencies- National Assembly”.

The Rights group accused the National Assembly of habitual bribes seeking gambit just as it recalled that the Senate had then in year 2020 accused NTA/Star Times of coming up with incoherent financial records to show that it spent a total of N19 billion; leaving a shortfall of N8 billion in 2018 to justify earlier claims that the business had yielded nothing.

“According to the Chairman of the Senate Committee, Solomon Olamilekan said the reason NTA officials kept the account to the JV in dollar form was them to easily ship the profits outside of Nigeria in connivance with some Nigerian officials.Adeola said, “So that we can look at everything relating to this transactions because from the last record we are able to gather, )over N200bn was generated because only two years alone accounted for about N30bn.”“N13bn in 2018 and about N11bn in 2019, this is almost N30bn and another $90m. By the time you now take it from 2008, that will come to about N100bn that was missing. HURIWA wants the Senate to tell us if the missing cash are retrieved”. 

HURIWA however stated that from an insider’s information,  the Senate and the NTA/STARTIMES reached an ‘understanding’ and soon after, the media noise about the so called scam in NTA/STARTIMES died a natural death just as the Rights group asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission if it is still independent and incharge of their investigative activities to launch investigation on all the investigations carried out by the Senate and the Federal House of Representatives to ascertain the veracity of the allegations of bribes being collected by the legislative investigators who thereafter compromised the investigation.  

HURIWA said the current media war against NDLEA is just a smokescreen to force the hands of Mohammed Buba Marwa to line the pockets of the legislators going by the widespread allegations of same pattern in the National Assembly over the past years. It urge the Chairman of NDLEA not to compromise his values for transparency and accountability. 

DON’T FRITTER PUBLIC FUND ON MEANINGLESS APPEAL AGAINST ORJI UZOR KALU:- HURIWA TO EFCC:

The threat by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to appeal the decision of the Federal High Court Abuja division which stops the Federal government from initiating a retrial of the firmer governor of Abia State and Senate Chief Whip Senator Orji Uzor Kalu over alleged financial infractions as then Abia State’s governor, has been described as meaningless shadow boxing and emotional pursuit of self help measures by the EFCC. 

Speaking against the backdrops of the landmark decision of the Federal High Court in which the erstwhile governor of Abia State was freed of the planned retrial by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) said the persistent and sustained tempo of media persecution by the EFCC against the Senator representing Abia North Senatorial Orji Uzor Kalu, has graphically exposed the hierarchy of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as a group of persons pursuing a war of Ethno-religious vendetta against one of the most prominent Igbo South East Politicians with the potency to be considered for the position of the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress in the 2023 Presidential election. “It would seem that some reactionary elements from the Arewa Peoples Congress and the Northern Governors Forum may have penetrator the EFCC and have deployed the EFCC to weaken the possibility of the South East to present a formidable candidate for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2023.

HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) RECALLED that the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, had on Wednesday, barred the Federal Government from retrying the former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, based on the N7.1billion money laundering charge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, earlier preferred against him.

HURIWA recalled that the court, in a judgement that was delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo, held that the Supreme Court did not in the verdict it gave on May 8, 2020, order the retrial of either Kalu or his his firm, Slok Nigeria Limited.

HURIWA said the presiding judge Justice Ekwo held that the Supreme Court only ordered the retrial of former Director of Finance in Abia State, Jones Udeogu, who was the Appellant before it. Consequently, he upheld a suit Kalu filed to challenge the legal propriety of his planned re-arraingment by the EFCC.

HURIWA recalled that Senator Kalu had in the Application he filed through his team of lawyers let by Chief Awa Kalu, SAN, argued that allowing the EFCC to try him afresh on the charge and same facts upon which he was earlier convicted and sentenced on December 5, 2019, would occasion him to suffer a “double jeopardy”.

HURIWA recalled that following their dissatisfaction with the ruling of an Abuja Federal High Court, which barred it from retrying the former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Wednesday vowed to appeal against the ruling.

“EFCC believes the judge erred in this ruling as Section 36(9) of the 1999 constitution is applicable only where the previous judgment was by a court of competent jurisdiction.

” In this case, the apex court had in the said judgment described the process that led to the conviction of Kalu as a nullity because the Judge came from the Court of Appeal to decide the matter.

“The Commission further avers that the court erred in its ruling that the Supreme Court did not order the retrial of Kalu; that it amounts to cherry-picking for Kalu to profit from the decision of the Apex court nullifying the conviction of his co defendant, Ude Udeagu but is not prepared to face the burden of retrial,” EFCC’s Spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, said on Wednesday night.

HURIWA however condemned the EFCC for seeking to have the same matter that was decided by the competent court of law and reached a determination that saw the former Governor going to the Kuje Prisons spending over 6 Months just before the highest Court in Nigeria the Supreme Court of Nigeria ruled that the judicial process that led to the sentencing of Orji Uzor Kalu to Kuje Prison was irregular and therefore ordered the immediate freedom for the erstwhile governor. HURIWA said the attempt to initiate the same case twice after the accused person had spent time in prison for same charges amounted to double jeopardy which is irregular and unconstitutional.  The Rights group has therefore asked the EFCC to perish the thought of frittering humongous of public fund to chase politically motivated persecution of Orji Uzor Kalu at the Court of Appeal. 

HURIWA TO EFCC-: STOP GESTAPO STYLE OPERATIONS OR YOU INSTIGATE PROTESTS

Reminiscing on how young Nigerians in all six geopolitical zones united around a common goal to end police intimidation, oppression, and brutality, the leading Civil Society Group; HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has condemned the illegal and gestapo operational modalities of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In a statement issued by the National Coordinator; Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the Rights group frowned at the new way officials of the EFCC chase after suspected criminals by breaking into people’s homes describing it as detrimental to the enjoyment of the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human rights recognised in chapter four of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and all relevant international human rights laws just as the Rights group says the officials of the Anti-Graft Agency are by these provocative and illegal actions enticing Nigerians to stage a nationwide protests similar to the #ENDSARS PROTESTS against the misconducts of the EFCC.

HURIWA warned that the EFCC, being a creation of the law must be law abiding and so tagged the modalities of operations in which operatives armed to the teeth go into people’s houses in the dead of the night like armed robbers and kidnappers, breaking into people’s houses and climbing in through the fences like hired assassins are antithetical to the law and the principle of the rule of law.

“These unlawful actions are definitely aimed as triggers to instigate the masses to stage; the kinds of demonstrations that will be almost unprecedented in dimension and massive in scale. 

HURIWA revealed that Section 36(5) of the constitution is very clear that even persons charged for criminal offence before the courts of law are deemed as innocent in the eyes of the law until a contrary determination is reached by a Court of competent jurisdiction.

“It is therefore unlawful that the operatives of the EFCC will continue to behave like outlaws or persons who are above the laws of the land.  EFCC is subject to the law and must be seen to be operating in compliance with the precepts of the law and in strict compliance with the RULE OF LAW”, HURIWA averred.

Continuing, HURIWA expressed worries that there have been over a dozen clandestine operations by the EFCC in which these officials of the law have been seen defecating on the fundamental principles of the law, abusing with reckless abandon the Rules of Engagement as if Nigeria is a banana republic.

Noting that these kinds of crude, debased and bakward application of brute force by the operatives of the EFCC are absolutely condemnable, despicable, reprehensible,  outrageous and provocative HURIWA warned that they be checked otherwise “the EFCC should watch and see that in the fullness of time the masses will demonstrate to say enough is enough. 

“In recent times, several people have made complaints concerning officials of the EFCC barging into their homes and hotel rooms at odd hours of the day, unannounced. These men do not knock on doors or wait to be invited in, some do not come with warrants or any official notice, they just fly in, eyes darting about, and noses trying to pick the scent of criminals.

The Wednesday, September 22nd 2021 night invasion of the apartment of the Abia-based Journalist; Norah Okafor by operatives of the EFCC, which saw about 25 hooded EFCC operatives bursting into Norah’s apartment in the dead of the night, after disconnecting the wire used to electrify the fence, scaled the wall and broke the gate key to gain unfettered access into the building depicts a horror scene.

“After subjecting the poor lady and other occupants of the building to over two hours of grueling physical stress, emotional trauma and destruction of their properties in the name of searching for non-existent incriminating evidence, the operatives reportedly declared ‘we have just wasted our time’.

HURIWA sees this declaration as a wholehearted, voluntary expression and admission of a disastrous blunder of a mission; that they were in the wrong place clearly for the wrong reason and at the wrong time.

Furthermore, HURIWA recalled that on August 3, 2021, Big brother Naija (lockdown) celebrity; Dorathy Bachor had in a series of Instagram stories, narrated how at 4:45am, she ran out of her room after hearing a loud bang to find EFCC officials in her living room, who told her they were looking for someone who ran into her estate, and then asked her to stay in, lock her door and not say a word.

HURIWA again pointed out that in July 2021, filmmaker; Biodun Stephen also had narrated how officials of the EFCC, “dressed in black with wielding weapons”, barged into her hotel room at 3:00am claiming to be looking for someone, but later apologised because she turned out not to be who they were looking for. 

“On February 4, 2021, a man reportedly jumped to his death from the 7th floor of a storey building when EFCC officials raided the 1004 estate in Victoria Island. There are also many other reports of EFCC officials forcing their way into hostels, people’s homes, into clubs, or disrupting night parties to round up people they think are internet fraudsters.

“On October 14, 2019, officials of the EFCC raided a nightclub in Oshogbo, Osun state and arrested 94 suspected fraudsters. On January 17, 2020, they rounded up 89 persons suspected to be involved in cybercrime at 360, a night club located at Ibadan. 

“Observably, there is one word that is peculiar with all of these arrests: ‘suspected’. These people being rounded up are still suspected to be fraudsters, which means that investigations have not been carried out to pinpoint who, amongst them all, is the actual fraudster.

“So to get to the fraudsters, EFCC officials barge into innocent people’s homes and spaces, and leave a trail of panic-stricken, horrified, and emotionally traumatised citizens who came face to face with gun-wielding men in black, and perhaps watched their lives flash before their eyes.

“It is not even enough to have warrants or identify yourself after you have barged in, it is abysmal that security agents would even break down people’s doors, or jump people’s fences in the first place”. 

Provoked that these days, it is difficult to differentiate between robbers and men of the EFCC as they seem to adopt the same tactics in carrying out their operations, HURIWA opined that EFCC is missing their job description while noting that looters are right in their faces but they are busy chasing regular folks.

“Today it’s N100m missing in a government office, tomorrow N40m, why don’t they go and catch those stealing the common wealth blind? Instead of bringing to justice suspected high profile politically exposed persons who jump from one political party to the All Progressives Congress and are given red carpet reception by the President, the EFCC has become agents of witch-hunt, targeting largely young people”.

Hence, HURIWA emphasized the need for the EFCC to be called to order and made to adopt law based procedures in going after suspected offenders while observing all the tenets and precepts of the fundamental human rights just as the Rights Group advised that the agency must adopt clinical and professional modus operandi that will be in compliance with all the rules of Engagement.

“Why not use surveillance and intelligence gathering to go after suspected offenders in the day time and make lawful arrests instead of behaving like armed robbers or armed Fulani militia members?” HURIWA queried.

Referencing the video released by the Dubai Police last year, which gave an account of the series of investigations carried out before the arrest of Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, known as Hushpuppi and his gang, HURIWA admonished that the EFCC can learn professionalism from the Dubai Police as actions such as breaking into people’s homes and parading those who are still suspects show the insensitivity afflicting the anti-graft agency. This is because, according to HURIWA, EFCC is meant to protect the people and the country against financial crimes, not terrorising people in the same breath

“Observably from the video, the investigation, dubbed Fox Hunt II, was carried out for about 4 months, during which his social media account, fraudulent activities, and the gang’s whereabouts were closely monitored. The Dubai e-police team were tracking Hushpuppi’s every move and taking notes of all his online activities, including all the fake pages of existing websites he and his team created to redirect their victims’ payment to their own accounts.

“They also found out all the corporate emails he and his team had hacked to send fake messages to clients to redirect financial details, and people’s bank details to their own account. Before his arrest, the Dubai police could tell exactly the number of people he had scammed and how much Hushpuppi had in his account.

“During the time of his arrest, they knew exactly where he and his team were, and at what time. They didn’t need to jump fences or break into innocent people’s homes to carry out the arrest. They knew their onions.

“There’s a peculiarity with which our security agents clamp down on those they perceive to be criminals, which includes inadequate investigation, violence, blood-shot eyes, high-pitched command voices, swiftness to inflict pain, and then for many, extortion.

“Perhaps, the EFCC is no different; their recent mode of operation in breaking-in, spreading panic, battering, bullying, and half-true accusations is consistently making a horseplay of an institution that is meant to operate with intelligence and facts.

“It is disturbing that EFCC has joined the bandwagon of uniformed men terrorising the Nigerian people”, Prior to now, waking up in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning to see men clad in black with guns, one would assume being attacked by armed robbers. But with the increase in Controversial raids of public and private spaces by EFCC officers in recent months, it is might be apt to ask “who are you” when you see men jumping your fence, so they can introduce themselves and tell if they are thieves, burglars, or from the EFCC”, HURIWA concluded.

Abba Kyari running from justice, FBI tells Judge

The United States prosecutors handling the case of Abba Kyari and co-conspirators in the multimillion-dollar fraud masterminded by Ramon ‘Hushpuppi’ Abbas have accused the disgraced police office of being at large.

Officials said they would proceed with the trial of three other co-conspirators in the international wire fraud and money laundering case that will commence in October and may last until May 2022.

Mr Kyari has been hiding behind Nigeria’s corrupt police system to obstruct his extradition to the U.S. to face trial after his indictment in July.

The police in Nigeria have set up three different panels to examine and reexamine the case filed by the FBI against Mr Kyari.

Last week, police minister Maigari Dingyadi said only President Muhammadu Buhari has the power to determine the disgraced deputy police commissioner’s case.

The minister’s comments quickly met rebuttal from legal experts, who said it was more of an attempt to help Mr Kyari escape justice because his extradition process could easily be handled by the attorney general’s office.

“Defendants Abdulrahman Imraam Juma, Kelly Chibuzo Vincent, and Abba Alhaji Kyari remain at large,” Tracy Wilkinson, a top American prosecutor in charge of the trial, told the trial Judge Otis Wright in a process filed on September 24, 2021, and seen by Peoples Gazette.

The prosecutors and the defence attorneys have agreed to proceed with the trial of Motunrayo Fashola, Bolatito Agbabiaka and Yusuf Anifowoshe, the three co-conspirators already arrested and released on bail.

(GAZETTE)

EFCC ‘Enticing’ Nigerians To Protest:- HURIWA ALLEGES

Calls on EFCC to operate within legal precepts

The leading CIVIL SOCIETY GROUP- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has condemned the illegal and gestapo operational modalities of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which are detrimental to the enjoyment of the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human rights recognised in chapter four, and all relevant international human rights laws just as the Rights group says the officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (HURIWA) are by their provocative and illegal actions enticing Nigerians to stage a nationwide protests similar to the #ENDSARS PROTESTS # against the misconducts of the EFCC.

“The EFCC is a creation of the law and so it must be law abiding but the modalities of operations in which the operatives armed to the teeth go into people’s houses in the dead of the night like armed robbers and kidnappers, breaking into people’s houses and climbing in through the fences  like hired assasins are antithetical to the law and the principle of the rule of law and these unlawful actions are definitely aimed as triggers to instigate the masses to stage the kinds of demonstrations that will be almost unprecedented in dimension and massive in scale. 

The Rights group through the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko said Section 36(5) of the constitution is very clear that even persons charged for criminal offence before the courts of law are deemed as innocent in the eyes of the law until a contrary determination is reached by the competent court of law. It is therefore unlawful that the operatives of the EFCC will continue to behave like outlaws or persons who are above the laws of the land.  EFCC is subject to the law and must be seen to be operating in compliance with the precepts of the law and in strict compliance with the RULE OF LAW”. 

HURIWA said there have been over a dozen clandestine operations by the EFCC in which these officials of the law have been seen defecating on the fundamental principles of the law and have abused with reckless abandon the Rules of Engagement as if Nigeria is a Banana Republic and these kinds of crude, debased and bakward application of brute force by the operatives of the EFCC are therefore absolutely condemned as despicable, reprehensible,  outrageous and provocative and must be checked otherwise the EFCC should watch and see that in the fullness of time the masses will demonstrate to say enough is enough. 

This same EFCC is around when the President gives red carpets reception to suspected high profile politically exposed persons who jump from one political party to the All Progressives Congress but the EFCC has now become agents of witch-hunt targeting largely young offenders and this body has started operating as if it is a reckless, lawless and primitive contraption but this is not so. The EFCC must be called to order to adopt law based procedures to go after suspected offenders and observe all the tenets and precepts of the fundamental human rights and indeed must adopt clinical and professional modus operandi that will be in compliance with all the rules of Engagement. Why not use surveillance and intelligence gathering to go after suspected offenders in the day time and make lawful arrests instead of behaving like armed robbers or armed Fulani militia members?”

HURIWA recalled that Norah Okafor, a journalist, has narrated how officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stormed her residence at an ungodly hour.

In a social media post, Okafor said masked men robed in black and armed to the teeth stormed her apartment like armed robbers, at exactly 1:36 am on Thursday.

She said they destroyed properties, assaulted residents, and forcefully collected car keys, mobile phones, and computers.

“At exactly 1:36am, I was alerted by my brother that there were armed robbers at my gate trying to make their way into the compound. Because it was an electric fence, I didn’t bother enough because I felt they can’t make their way in.

“Alas, I was wrong. 2am on the dot they made their way into the compound. They came prepared. Over 25 of them with two hilux buses, masked and dressed in black upon black.

“A huge one climbed the fence, with a plier and immediately cut off a few of the wires, jumped into the compound and with an axe, broke the gate key open and zoom they made their first entry into my apartment.

“As a nude sleeper, while they tried to make their way into the compound, I found something to wear while my brothers and I were thinking of a way of escape. The worst case scenario for me is that they will rape or take the only valuable available (a car key) so I prepared my mind.

“The next thing I realized was that about 7 of them were already in my room with shouts of “lie down, face down, on the light, where’s your phone, where’s your car key? Where’s this and that.. Confused me. Seeing over 25 hefty men with different kinds of guns, mhen, e don be, be that. I handed the phone to them with the key, before then, they have already taken hold of my laptop.

“I turned to be sure these were armed robbers, and they asked for my passwords to all the devices collected with masking tape to identify each. Still in shock, I heard someone destroying everything in the kitchen, my room, that of my brothers and all the drawers. I was still asking myself what’s happening? They asked me to stand and follow them downstairs, lo and beyond, they unmasked themselves, hmmmm… are these kind criminals? I asked. All my neighbours were already going through the same pain as I.

“They have already given my brothers a beating of their lives, carried my neighbour downstairs and tried unlocking all the cars in the compound. And after searching all the phones and laptops, three of their men walked in, lo and behold, it was EFCC. What? I screamed. Shut up, was the next thing i heard and when they couldn’t open my phone, they asked me to, I did and after a while I just asked, please where is your office so I can come pick up my things on my way to work, they asked me what I do and I said “journalist”, asked my neighbour he said “lawyer”, the other “doctor”. They looked at me, handed over the phones and said, “we just wasted our time.

“These fools, spent over one hour molesting and destroying things in this compound. I feel so pained and embarrassed right now. Is this how EFCC operate? How did we get here? Who is the informant? I am just confused right now. Thank God my mum isn’t here.”

HURIWA recalled too that the Economic and Financial crimes commission, EFCC, allegedly invaded the house of the Big brother Naija celebrity, Dorathy Bachor.

Dorathy, who emerged the 1st runner up of the Big Brother Naija, Lockdown season, condemned the act.

Expressing her anger via a post on her Instagram page, the busty Delta state indigene shared some pictures of the supposed EFCC officials.

Operatives of the EFCC on Tuesday violently seized access cards and broke into hotel rooms in an overnight raid in Lagos, Peoples Gazette has learnt.

Dozens of hotel guests were left traumatised after anti-graft agents breached their privacy at Parktonian Hotel in Lagos affluent Lekki neighbourhood, witnesses said.

Many of the guests, including couples, were passing the night at the mid-size hotel when EFCC agents broke in at about 4:00 a.m. Some of them said they were naked under the duvet when agents broke in and were not even allowed to dress up before being interrogated by the officers, who said they were on a manhunt for suspected Internet fraudsters.

“The officers broke into my hotel room as I was sleeping,” a victim told The Gazette on Tuesday afternoon. “The incident that played out was just too traumatic for me to narrate.”

The witness said the officers started breaking into rooms after collecting the master access card to open all rooms from the management at gunpoint.

“They broke into the hotel and threatened to shoot the receptionists and management if they didn’t immediately release the master access card to them,” a witness said. “So the hotel workers had to comply immediately.”

Another witness who narrated his ordeal described it as “embarrassing and traumatising,” as he was unclad when operatives barged into the room.

Many foreigners, including some potential investors who came into the country to carry out preliminary studies on a cable manufacturing project, were caught in what witnesses described as “violent and uncivilised conduct” of the operatives, who were about two dozen.

The victim pleaded strict anonymity to avoid being victimised by EFCC agents. Some witnesses had previously reported being physically attacked by EFCC operatives for providing information about illegal and corrupt raids to the media.

“They continued to search other rooms. They went away with about 13 occupants,” he said. “I was naked, and I had to beg them (for me) to put something on. I am actually hypertensive, but I put myself together because I am not a criminal in any way.”

He described the experience as “embarrassing and traumatic,” noting that “nobody wants to sleep in a hotel where their privacy and security cannot be guaranteed.”

The witness added, “I am not going back to that hotel. They won’t go to Transcorp where people who are looting Nigeria’s money are staying.”

The hotel owner, Obinna Obiora, told The Gazette that he would comment on the matter later. The Gazette could not immediately confirm whether or not the officers had a warrant to invade the hotel.

When contacted by The Gazette, the spokesperson for the anti-graft agency, Wilson Uwujaren, claimed he was unaware of the raid.

“I haven’t got any report of such, but I’ll confirm from the Lagos office if there was any raid,” Mr Uwujaren told The Gazette over the telephone.

Controversial raids of public and private spaces have become increasingly common amongst EFCC officers in recent months. The department was established to fight economic crimes, but it has recently retooled itself towards a relentless crackdown on suspected Internet thieves, widely known as Yahoo Boys.

Earlier this year, an unidentified man jumped from the seventh floor of a storey building located at 1004 estate at Victoria Island, Lagos, during a raid by EFCC officials.

Few  weeks back,  a similar incident played out at Oasis Park Estate, Osapa London, Lagos, where EFCC operatives frightened residents when they broke into homes in search of a purported Internet crook, who was not even around at the time of the raid.  

HURIWA accused the EFCC of not just violating the laws but also abusing with reckless abandon the UN declaration on adherence to the Rule of law.

HURIWA said the midnight raids by EFCC offends the Declaration adopted on 24 September 2012 by the United Nations General Assembly at the High-level Meeting on the Rule of Law at the National and International Levels reaffirmed that “human rights, the rule of law and democracy are interlinked and mutually reinforcing and that they belong to the universal and indivisible core values and principles of the United Nations”.1 Indeed, government responsiveness to the interests and needs of the greatest number of citizens is strictly associated with the capacity of democratic institutions and processes to bolster the dimensions of rights, equality and accountability.

If considered not solely an instrument of the government but as a rule to which the entire society, including the government, is bound, the rule of law is fundamental in advancing democracy. Strengthening the rule of law has to be approached not only by focusing on the application of norms and procedures. One must also emphasize its fundamental role in protecting rights and advancing inclusiveness, in this way framing the protection of rights within the broader discourse on human development.

A common feature of both democracy and the rule of law is that a purely institutional approach does not say anything about actual outcomes of processes and procedures, even if the latter are formally correct. When addressing the rule of law and democracy nexus, a fundamental distinction has to be drawn between “rule by law”, whereby law is an instrument of government and government is considered above the law, and “rule of law”, which implies that everyone in society is bound by the law, including the government. Essentially, constitutional limits on power, a key feature of democracy, require adherence to the rule of law.