Don’t Blame Us Over Delayed Resolution Of High-profile Cases, EFCC Tells Nigerians

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has lamented that Nigerians have continually harassed it because it is yet to conclude some of the high-profile cases it is pursuing in different courts.

The commission appealed to Nigerians not to blame it for the delayed resolution of some high-profile cases pending in court.

The EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale, stated this on Thursday while fielding questions from journalists at a joint press briefing by the spokesmen of all the security agencies, including the military and paramilitary outfits.

He specifically cited the alleged corruption cases against the former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, as among those that have drawn Nigerians’ ire against the commission.

The briefing organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) in Abuja had Public Relations Officers from the Police, EFCC, ICPC, Defence Headquarters, Nigerian Air Force, NAPTIP, NDLEA, DSS, Fire Service, and others in attendance.

Mr Oyewale, responding to a question about why some cases are handled swiftly while others take longer, appealed to Nigerians to understand why some high-profile cases take longer to resolve.

The EFCC maintained that it cannot be both the accuser and the judge in its own case, saying the commission should not be blamed for cases that take a long time to resolve.

He said, “I think it is important at this forum for us to properly understand the processes and procedures that are involved in the prosecution of cases. The EFCC, as an anti-corruption agency, is not the judiciary.

“We cannot be the accuser and the judge in our own matter. Our mandate allows us to investigate, to prosecute, to prevent, but our mandate does not allow us to adjudicate.

“You cannot take a matter to court, and you come up with a decree and say that this matter should be resolved in two days, in three days.

“It is within the mandate, the responsibility of the judiciary to decide when the matter is resolved or not. So, we go to court like any other party. If a matter is resolved very quickly, very good; we will clap for the judiciary.

“If for one reason or the other there are issues that are delaying the resolution of a matter, the EFCC should not be blamed. You cannot blame us for that. Because you are ascribing an almighty status to the EFCC.

“You arrest somebody, you take him to court, and you decide when the case is resolved. No, we don’t have such power.

“So, if a matter, like that of Saleh Mamman, where he got 75 years, was resolved very quickly, maybe because of some processes in the court that made it possible for the matter to be so quickly resolved.

“There are cases; they may be complex. There may be complex cases. You know, there are witnesses; there are a lot of issues that are involved in the resolution of cases.

“So, it has nothing to do with the EFCC. We charge our cases to court. Our lawyers are about the best around the world.

“If you check our record, we have about a 98 per cent success rate in our prosecutions. So you cannot say that maybe we are not diligent enough. No, we are diligent. We have very good lawyers. We do our work very well. We go to court.

“The business of the court should not be blamed on the EFCC. And I want the media to please educate the public, because the issue of Yahaya Bello is always there. They continually harass us about Yahaya Bello.

“And we’ve charged the matter to court; the matter is in two different courts. And we are going to court; we wait for the judiciary to decide the matter.”

The anti-graft agency said it would not comment on electoral spending because the elections have not yet taken place, adding that it would do so at an appropriate time.