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EFCC: Between El-Rufai, Ribadu and Selective Application of Jungle Justice (1) By Jibo Nura
I have once said that there are gross and fundamental flaws on the manner
and methodology of
establishing certain law enforcement agencies in Nigeria. I have also said
times without number that the
idea behind conceiving the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
and Independent
Corrupt Practice and other related offences Commission (ICPC) as parallel
law enforcement bodies for
fighting criminal offence and other vices that are principally meant to be
fought by the Nigerian police,
military and courts of law, is certainly unnecessary.
Critics might argue that there is the need for establishing such
commissions as the EFCC since our police
force and legal systems are not discharging their responsibilities
diligently. We shall return to this point
later.
However, looking at EFCC and its mode of operation from a broader legal
point of view, one would come
to realize that it is of doubtful legality. For the process of its
establishment is not just legally wrong but
also constitutionally misleading under the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (Establishment)
Act, which Cap. E1 of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 refers.
The National Assembly which is ‘bestowed’ with the responsibility to
confer such a power upon the
EFCC as contained therein Section 5 and 6 of this Act, certainly has
limited jurisdiction without the
prejudice to Section 174 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria 1999 that gives the
Attorney General of the Federation veto power to institute, constitute,
continue or discontinue legal
proceedings against any person in any court other than a court martial, in
respect of offence created by or
under any Act of the National Assembly. It is only the Attorney General
who under Section 174
subsection (1) of the 1999 Constitution that can exercise an unimpeded
power over any person that is
alleged by law to have committed offence punishable in court or otherwise.
The EFCC therefore has no legal justification whatsoever to persecute,
arrest or rescind a case-be it
criminal or civil, which has already being submitted or taken before the
court of law.
In the case of El-Rufa’i/ Ribadu versus EFCC, I think the latter goofed by
acting ultra bires over the
issues of the duo (El-Rufa’i and Ribadu) that have since being dragged to
courts for determination.
Indeed, the much taciturnity and political hullabaloo about El-Rufa’i’s
alleged destruction of properties
and allocation of plots of lands to his ‘kith’ and ‘kin’ in Abuja; the
shameful witch-hunting and
embarrassment of Nuhu Ribadu on his role in dealing with tough government
criminals and thieves, will
do no good to our national image, but cause more harm by making the
government becomes more
mercenary in her much talked about rule of law.
Instead of the EFCC to go after Obasanjo-the man who allegedly spent $16
billion in an irresponsible
attempt to rescue our power wahala, or pursue religiously people such as
Dariye who has been caught
red-handed by the United Kingdom(UK) metropolitan police with tax payers
money abroad, or even run
helter-skelter after Saminu Turaki who accumulated a terrible debt of more
than N250 billion to a ravaged
tiny agrarian state that was supposed to grow more than any other state in
Nigeria, it is just building castle
on the air, wasting time on those people that have done good in their own
capacity to salvage the country
from political racketeers. What a shame!
To me, it is absolutely wrong if not injurious for the EFCC to say that
they are about to ask Interpol to
arrest El-Rufa’i for reasons that can never be justified before any court
law.
Indeed, the political immaturity exhibited in the case of Nuhu Ribadu and
El-Rufa’i by some members of
the EFCC and country’s ruling class who use their power and privileged
positions for personal
aggrandizement rather than to serve the masses, is no doubt unwholesome to
our national savvy. For
instance, Ribadu was a man that was hell-bent on fighting thieves and
corrupt government officials, but
today some of these thieves have collaborated to fight back at him,
because we are a nation that does not
honour good?
Shamelessly, the man was asked to go back to school and it was he that
went, but in the end was denied
the certificate of graduation as and when due. And don’t forget that he
was also demoted willy nilly!
And El-Rufa’i, for his unflinching effort to comply with the Abuja master
plan as a competent quantity
surveyor, he is now caught by people with insatiable lust for political
power characterized by deliberate
falsehood and political intolerance. People who specialize in victimizing
political opponents merely for
the purpose of satisfying their insatiable ego.
My candid advice to EFCC and the present government is to tread softly so
as not to trample and/or find
themselves under human rights violations that clearly states to any
commission or government to
“determine whether an individual violates or abuses the product of
deliberate state policy or the policy of
its organs or institutions or whether they arise from abuses by state
officials of this office or whether they
are acts of any political organizations or movements”, in court of law.
Therefore, there is the need to exercise some caution on dealing with
individual interests in order to create
necessary political and economic conditions that will facilitate the
independence of our common destiny
and foster national cohesion.
Jibo Nura,
Site Project Manager,
MOBAT Quants Consultants and Project Managers,
Yankari Holiday Resort and Safari Project,
Bauchi State.
Contact Nura at:
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