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Yahaya Bello: EFCC Serial Infringements On The Right of Ex Governor.


Yahaya Bello

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By Abdulmalik Suleiman

 

Corruption has been identified as a negative cankerworm that is inimical to the development and advancement of any society that aspires to greatness in the comity of nations.

The spate of corruption in any nation is bad considering the fact that it has a way of arresting the developmental trajectory of such nation and efforts of leaders of such society to tame the scourge.

Credit must however be given to former President Olusegun Obasanjo for deeming it fit to set up the Economic, Financial and other Crimes Commission (EFCC) upon assumption of office early in the life of his government to tame the scourge.

It is regrettable however, that the EFCC has become a toothless bulldog that can only bark without any ability to bite.  In the course of taming this scourge,  years down the line a proper appraisal of its operations is to be taken in a very dispassionate manner.

Furthermore, the anti graft agency is now a vehicle to witch-hunt political opponents or those rising politically, while using illegal approaches without recourse to individual right to freedom and fair trial.

One interesting thing about this, is the current attempt by the leadership of the EFCC to arraign the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello for some sporus allegations bordering on official graft while in office as the state’s helmsman for 8 years.

While conceding the fact that EFCC should be allowed to perform its official mandate of ridding the country of graft, such right must however be done in a fair, justifiable manner that would necessitate people to know and admit that justice has been done and be seen to have been done.

Having followed the trends and series of events that had taken place in the exchanges between former Governor Bello and the EFCC , I can state clearly that what the commission has been doing is nothing but a witch hunt and not anyway connected to fighting graft as the commission wants the people to believe.

I say this for many reasons and I will use this opportunity to highlight some of the things that I have observed with a view to pointing out the shenanigans of the officials of the EFCC in its supposed ‘vow’ to bring former Governor Bello to book.

The first clear case of vendetta against Bello occurred on April 17 this year when the commission in a Gestapo manner tried to kidnap the former governor despite a pending order of a court of competent jurisdiction restraining it from arresting him pending the determination of a case the former governor instituted against the commission.

But for the intervention of God who came to his rescue before any harm could come to him by the unruly personnel of the EFCC who tried to illegally break into the residence of the former governor.

Not long after, the former Governor showed up at the national headquarters of the EFCC after several months of propaganda from the commission to suggest that he had fled the country but rather than take him in, he was allowed to wait endlessly in the anti-graft office for a long time before being allowed to go.

What was however shocking is the fact that later that day, the personnel of EFCC stormed the home of the former governor in an attempt to arrest him despite showing up at their corporate offices earlier in the day.

One wonders what the real motives of the EFCC and its operatives are with regards to the issues relating to the former Governor considering the fact that rather than doing the needful in terms of proper prosecution if any case has been established against him but rather playing to the gallery.

The motive of the current government in this case remains suspicious considering the fact that one can see that it is displaying in this case as against its disposition to others with similar cases which the government is not looking in anyway.

Examples are bound of what I consider as selective application of the EFCC and the current government. One major illustration of this is that of the National Chairman of the ruling APC, Alhaji Abdullahi Umar Ganduje who had in the past been caught on tape collecting bribes from contractors.

Today, he has been rewarded with the number one post in the ruling party and EFCC turning a blind eye to such and still want the public to trust them.

It’s not a hidden fact that more than half of the current cabinet of Pres. Tinubu’s administration have EFCC cases worse than the phantom case against the former Kogi governor including the head of second arms of the government. No one is in doubt anymore, that the ongoing fight against corruption in the country is selective and political, so EFCC should leave former governor Bello alone.

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