If the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) were truly an honest and effective law-enforcement agency, what it needs to do is to charge suspects to court, and not this continued propaganda and showmanship.

In all working democracies in the world, when a person is suspected of committing a criminal offence against the laws of the state, the proper thing to do is to charge him to court. It ought to be a simple and straightforward protocol. But in Nigeria, it is so different and that is troubling. Even in extreme cases of terrorism, we saw how the Americans handled the terror suspects in Boston. They arrested the younger of the suspects on Friday night and he was charged to court by Monday morning.

In Nigeria, the story is horribly so different. When Nigerian police, or recently the EFCC operatives, arrest a suspect, they prefer instead to “interrogate” him, “quiz” him, “grill” him and what other verbs do they not use in describing the things they do to a suspect? None of those things constitutes genuine law enforcement procedure. And none of those things would ever help this country in dealing effectively with those who commit crimes.

Take, for instance, the story about the re-arrest of Chief Timipre Silva, the former Governor of Bayelsa State. Observe how Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC spokesman, described the incident:

“[Silva] was immediately whisked away and is currently being interrogated at the Abuja headquarters of the anti-graft agency. He is being grilled in connection with fresh evidence linking him with a bouquet of fraudulent transactions that borders on money laundering. Part of the new evidence includes a number of eye-popping real estate acquisitions in Abuja.”

The above does not depict a genuine execution of the arrest powers of the police or the EFCC. I don’t know Governor Silva. I don’t really care so much about him as a person. But one must be disturbed about the notion that he is being grilled. For what? If he committed a crime, and they have formed an opinion on how he did it, just go ahead and charge him to court and present evidence to convict him and let him defend himself. You can’t have evidence and you begin to grill the suspect about the evidence. What do you expect him to do – to confess or to help you convict him or to pay you bribe to cover up the evidence? Why not just charge him to court with the evidence you have?

It is the business of the court to try suspects and convict them. The idea of this dramatic “grilling” and “quizzing” of a suspect by the police is against the principles of due process. And for those who may not understand the meaning of due process in this context, I shall quote directly from the Nigerian Constitution, 1999. Section 35, subsections (2) and (3) of the Constitution provide as follows:

“Section 35 (2) Any person who is arrested or detained shall have the right to remain silent or avoid answering any question until after consultation with a legal practitioner or any other person of his own choice.

“(3) Any person who is arrested or detained shall be informed in writing within twenty-four hours (and in a language that he understands) of the facts and grounds for his arrest or detention.”

The above is the Constitution talking to you. If you take these words seriously, then you must be surprised at the language of the EFCC officers. Who the hell are they to be so imprudently violating the constitution just for showmanship? Are they above the Constitution? All they need to do is to charge Silva to court. They have no business grilling him like this is an espionage game thing. If the man stole money while a Governor, just charge him to court for stealing. Stop wasting time and resources and stop violating his due process rights. In all they do, the EFCC should follow the Constitution. Once they operate outside the Constitution, they are no better than those they are “grilling” and “quizzing”.

In these matters, Due Process Advocates (DPA) is interested only in one thing – we want to make sure that the Constitution is followed. We want to have the rule of law, rather than the rule of man. We want the Constitution to rule, and not for the EFCC to rule. And one must wonder why the EFCC should rather “grill” and “quiz” the suspect, rather than charge him to court. The answer may be clear. By “quizzing” and “grilling” him, the operatives of the EFCC would have the opportunity to collect bribe from him. If all they wanted was to try him in court and punish him for committing a crime, they would be in court, and not in their interrogation rooms.

Due process requires that the suspect be charged and arraigned immediately. And that is what we stand for, not just for this suspect, but also for all those who are suspected of committing crimes. Enough of the propaganda. Charge him to court immediately and let the court deal with it.

•Emeka Ugwuonye, Esquire, whose photo appears alongside this piece, is a US-based lawyer and Group Founder/Principal Administrator of Due Process Advocates (DPA). He originally wrote this piece for the DPA.

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