The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Alhaji Ibraheem Magu, has been advised to ensure that the rule of law – as enshrined in the amended 1999 Constitution and other related laws – was strictly followed in its fight against corruption, because they are the foundation on which the present democratic dispensation rests.

A human rights activist and Executive Chairman, Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice (CHRSJ), Comrade Alimi Sulaiman Adeniyi, who made the submission in a media statement made available to News Express, told the acting chairman of the anti-graft agency that he may not record any success in the fight against corruption, if due process of law was not followed by the commission. He berated Magu for what he described as an “illegal attack against the judiciary, particularly, men of the Nigeria Bar.” He cited as an example, the case of Mr Ricky Taffa (SAN), insisting that disrespect for court orders was an encouragement of corruption on its own.

Comrade Adeniyi, who was reacting to the recent face-off between the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and EFCC, pointed out that the anti-sleaze body could not deny that the commission was not aware of the high level of corruption in the country before the advent of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

The CHRSJ boss cautioned the EFCC boss against the over zealousness of his men in trying to impress the President, insisting that men of the commission knew those who siphoned, scandalised and diverted the nation’s resources into their private pockets and those of their collaborators. The activist charged the EFCC to devise a strategy through which it can nip the menace of corruption in the bud.

He said: “The rot of corruption in Nigeria is enormous and gargantuan; which mere impressing President Buhari by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission cannot curb. The menace of corruption has been with us in the country over the years. The flagrant disobedience to court order would not help the country as a democratic nation before the international community. Before the country can stamp out the menace out of the land, we need to get our template right, in order to get rid of corruption in our land. Nigeria’s moral values have been eroded. The anti-graft commission should rise above parochial political interest. The men

and women of the commission should develop the will to perform their

constitutional duty of fighting corruption in national life.”

He reminded the EFCC boss that it was professional mandatory for lawyers to take a brief from any client, because section 36 sub-section (5) of the amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria says: “Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until he/she is proved guilty.”

•Photo shows Magu.

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