Outrage as EFCC’s Bello arrest saga mocks N80.2b fraud charge 

• Anti-graft agency declines to answer questions
• Sack EFCC boss now, CD advises Tinubu
• Stop charade, get serious with anti-graft laws, HURIWA tells Commission
• Rule of law applies only to less privileged, Adebiyi laments
• Ugwummadu: Security agencies know where former governor is hiding 

Concerns have been raised about the recent standoff between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.

Legal experts and civil society organisations attributed the EFCC’s failure to apprehend Bello, despite declaring him wanted for almost two months, to a culture of impunity, weak institutional frameworks, and the challenges associated with upholding the rule of law in Nigeria.

On August 22, 2024, the EFCC told Nigerians it was working with local and international organisations to ensure Bello answered all the allegations of misappropriation of public funds levelled against him.

The anti-graft agency declared the former governor a fugitive and insisted he would be arrested and brought to justice if he was sighted anywhere in the open.

EFCC’s head of media and publicity, Dele Oyewale, said: “What the court of appeal is saying is just to amplify the position of the Commission and establish that we are focused on this matter.

“As it is now, Bello cannot come into the open. He cannot make himself available anywhere because he has become a fugitive, and we all know the instruments of the law; anywhere he is sighted, he would be arrested. He is hiding and has gone underground. Every law enforcement agency, both local and international, is involved in this.”

But Bello declared that he visited the anti-graft Agency’s head office in Abuja on Wednesday without arrest or interrogation.

The EFCC stated that Bello is not in its custody and is still wanted. There was also a reported siege at the Kogi State Government’s guest house by officials of the Commission to arrest him forcibly.

A source who witnessed Bello’s arrival at the EFCC headquarters said the Kogi State Governor, Usman Ododo, accompanied the former governor.

Bello reportedly spent over an hour in the car without getting out.

The source said the ex-governor was later told that the EFCC chairman did not want to see him. The chairman was said to have snubbed him and left the headquarters complex. Once it was clear that the EFCC chairman did not want to see him, he returned to Ododo’s car, and they drove off.

“He was asked to go but he initially refused. He eventually left without being detained. He was not attended to,” the source added.

Responding to questions about the EFCC’s controversial actions on Wednesday, the agency’s spokesman, Dele Oyewale, said on the telephone, “I decline to comment on your question, please.”

The police high command has also been blamed for not ordering Bello’s police detail to arrest him.

Efforts to contact the police spokesman, ACP Muyiwa Adejobi, were unsuccessful as his phone was inaccessible.

MEANWHILE, the Campaign for Democracy called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately remove EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede from office, alleging he has demonstrated a lack of capacity to hold such a position.

CD, a prominent Civil Society Organisation in Nigeria, said it was unimaginable that the former governor, whom the EFCC had placed on a watchlist and for whom the Commission enlisted security agencies in Nigeria and Interpol to help apprehend, walked into the EFCC premises, waited for about three hours, and was not arrested or interrogated.

“Instead, they told him to go, that they would get back to him, only to issue a laughable statement that he was still a wanted man,” said a statement by the President of the Campaign for Democracy, Comrade Ifeanyi Odili, yesterday.

“You (EFCC) said you couldn’t arrest or interrogate him in your office because his governor was there, yet you went, at night, to the official residence of the same governor in Abuja to start firing gunshots as if Nigeria is a lawless society. This is unacceptable,” CD said.

It noted that, in more rational climes, the EFCC boss would have been fired the following day.

“The man, Yahaya Bello, has fulfilled all righteousness. With the turn of events that culminated in a show of shame last night, it appears the EFCC has an ulterior motive, definitely different from the fight against corruption,” the statement added.

The Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA) also criticised the EFCC’s handling of Bello’s case.

In a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA expressed deep dissatisfaction with the confusion and mixed messages surrounding Bello’s visit to the EFCC headquarters.

The organisation condemned the agency’s lack of clarity, coordination, and seriousness in addressing the matter.

“This hide-and-seek game with Yahaya Bello is nothing short of a coordinated farce and an unpardonable gimmick,” HURIWA said. “It is absolutely unacceptable. The EFCC must stop this charade and get serious with the enforcement of Nigeria’s anti-graft laws, or else the entire management must be uprooted if the country is to have any hope of waging a decisive war on corruption.”

A security analyst, Frank Oshanugor, said the inability of Nigerian law enforcement agencies to apprehend Bello, despite a warrant for his arrest, underscores the dysfunctional state of the nation’s security apparatus and institutions.

Oshanugor criticised the disparity between Nigeria and countries like the U.S., where state institutions operate independently of individuals. He argued that in Nigeria, personalities are often perceived as more powerful than their offices, leading to a subversion of democratic principles.

“What happens in Nigeria is a sheer mockery of democracy,” Oshanugor said, highlighting the disparity in applying the rule of law. He contended that while ordinary citizens are subject to the full force of the law, those in power often enjoy impunity.

Oshanugor questioned the lack of urgency in apprehending Bello, contrasting it with the zeal displayed in pursuing petty criminals. He suggested that Bello’s ability to evade arrest stems from his capacity to exploit corruption.

The analyst further criticised the prevalence of individuals with criminal charges holding positions of power, particularly within the National Assembly. He questioned the EFCC’s focus on low-level internet fraudsters while seemingly turning a blind eye to high-profile corruption cases.

Oshanugor concluded that Nigeria’s institutions have failed and called for urgent reforms.

ALSO, a lawyer and promoter of Vanguard of the Independence of the Judiciary, Douglas Ubankwa, said the conflict between the two parties reflects impunity.

According to him, if the federal government could apprehend Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya, they would have the capability to apprehend anyone within Nigeria.

He said the false assumption that the Federal Government is weak regarding arrests is incorrect, and he wondered why Bello’s case is different .

Ubankwa said, “The federal government has one of the most organized systems in the world for information management and monitoring citizens’ activities. Any perceived lapses are allowed.”

Omale Ajonye, a lawyer, argued that impunity by both parties undermines the rule of law.

“I’m of the view that the attitude displayed by Bello is the peak of impunity mostly displayed by power-drunk politicians in our country. The rule of law is premised on transparency and accountability among other tenets, and being accountable ought to be the foundation of leadership,” he noted.

Ajonye said that upon Bello’s tenure expiring, a leader without being compelled owes his people the duty to account for his stewardship.

“If a security agency mandated by law invites anyone for interface vis a vis issues of purported fraud, embezzlement or misdemeanour, it behooves on the invitee to honour the invitation without hesitation,” he said, adding that Bello’s claim that he went to the EFCC without being held is a mockery of the rule of law.

The Executive Director of Sterling Law Centre, Deji Ajare, described the situation as embarrassing.

According to him, the EFCC looks like a toothless bulldog that cannot bite because it is pretty difficult to explain how a wanted person could walk into its premises, take some photographs, and leave without being arrested.

“The EFCC owes Nigerians a better explanation for what happened. In any event, if Yahaya Bello’s antecedents are anything to go by, one will not doubt that the former governor engineered the whole saga to create the impression that he is willing to submit to the EFCC.

“The case itself is subjudice; the EFCC’s work of investigation is done now, but what remains is for Bello to submit himself for trial and not to be investigated anymore. At this point, the job of the EFCC and other law enforcement agencies is to arrest Bello wherever he is found and take him before the court to answer to the allegations,” he said.

Noting that the incident is a stark reminder of the inefficiency of the country’s agencies and the weaknesses of its institutions, he said, “One also wonders how the governor’s convoy, made up of policemen and DSS officials, could find Bello and not arrest him in line with the existing warrant on him.

“It’s clear that there is no inter-agency cooperation or at least, one or more of the agencies have been compromised.”

Human rights lawyer Toluwani Adebiyi said that the rule of law in Nigeria exists only for some people and not all Nigerians.

“It applies only to the poor, the less privileged, and those not in power or not connected. There is selective treatment, and that is no longer strange. We are in a country where the same/equal Nigerians, under the same law, are treated unequally. It is injustice, a flagrant disregard, and a slap on the rule of law,” he said.

He added, “If he would not be arrested and detained because the matter is already before the court, such a wanted culprit should have been subjected to rigorous questioning or interrogation as they did to the NLC President recently.

“What a shameful exemption from the injurious consequences of his action and criminal allegations. Nigeria needs divine intervention and drastic overhaul.”

FORMER National President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Malachy Ugwummadu, explained that impunity thrives when there are no repercussions for malfeasance.

According to him, what happened would fortify the same culture of impunity Nigerians are trying to check.

“If Bello was already declared wanted by the EFCC and refused to honour that invitation, he should explain to Nigerians why he has not volunteered to do so at his pleasure and at his own time.

“He has been declared wanted. In my own words, he is a fugitive. A fugitive is a suspect who is running away from the law. So, to now decide voluntarily when he wants to honour an invitation extended to him more than four months ago speaks to the fact that some people are above the law in Nigeria, and that should not be accepted.

“If he knows he is innocent, he must, first of all, tell the Nigerian people why he has been hiding, why he has become a fugitive soon after governing a state in Nigeria for eight years, and why he has chosen not to honour a mere invitation,” he said.

Ugwummadu advised Bello to appear in court on the next adjourned date to answer the N80.2 billion charge.

He described the EFCC’s claim about Bello’s hiding as a big joke, adding that the Commission knows where he is hiding.

Also, Jerry Aondo, a lawyer, advised that the rule of law and administration of justice should apply to all citizens without favour to anyone, as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.

“Nobody is above the law, and so is Bello. The law should take its course, and the EFCC should always uphold the laws of the land without favoring Bello,” he advised.