Akinyemi faults hindrance to EFCC
Our correspondent
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Former External Affairs Minister, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, has condemned what he described as the extreme difficulties being put in the way of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in the discharge of its functions, Empowered Newswire has reported.
Akinyemi spoke on Monday morning in New York at the Thisday Conference on Nigeria.
According to him, the case between the EFCC and the Attorney-General of the Federation should be addressed in a more systematic manner rather than just using the rule of law.
He asked, ”Can an American conceive a situation where a judge will issue an injunction that FBI should not arrest a person?”
Akinyemi recalled court injunctions that ordered that the June 12 elections should not be held, asking “should we have obeyed that order?”
He said, “EFCC is facing an extremely difficult situation with injunctions from judges not to arrest people they are investigating.”
Before Akinyemi spoke, a member of the audience asked what was responsible for the overthrow of the EFCC in the fight against corruption.
The former Commonwealth Secretary, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, who chaired the session, noted that the question could best be answered by government officials.
However, Anyaoku said, “It is wrong to say there is an overthrow of the EFCC, no it is not true.”
Earlier, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, had said that the fight against corruption in Nigeria could be fought within the confines of the rule of law.
Anyaoku prefaced his comments with references to what the SGF had said, noting that what was going on was a ”debate as to how EFCC activities can be organised in such a way that previous situations of breaking in, detaining people without charge, etc., would stop.”
The former Commonwealth scribe said the mood of the nation was behind EFCC and what it was doing. He said the challenge of the government was how to respect that national mood and ensure that it was pursued within the context of the law.
According to him, “The President is absolutely right in insisting on the rule of law.”
He recalled that the impression before now was that the rule of law could be respected in certain but not all cases, arguing however that it was important that the rule of law be respected at all times.
”There should be no intention on the part of the government to overthrow EFCC,” Anyaoku added.
According to Anyaoku, the EFCC should have gone to a higher court apparently referring to the Orji Kalu case to seek the abandonment of a ruling of a judge that it should not arrest those it is investigating.
Another member of the audience asked a question from Paul Begala, an American political pundit and former President Bill Clinton adviser who moderated, if he could imagine an accused person visiting the US President, to which Begala to his surprise, answered in the affirmative.
Anyaoku noted that it was important to keep the basis of the rule of law in criminal proceedings that an accused person is deemed innocent until found guilty.