EFCC: Plenty of bark, how much can it bite?

In from Timothy Enietan-Mathhews…

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is unarguably the busiest agency of government at the moment. The agency has its hands full and brimming with what can be described as celebrity cases; cases that could determine the direction and seriousness of the anti-corruption war President Muhammadu Buhari has chosen to wage.

The agency, since its creation during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has never been without activity. In fact, during Obasanjo’s administration and with Malam Nuhu Ribadu at the helm of affairs, the fear of the agency was the beginning of wisdom.

Under Obasanjo and Ribadu, politicians constantly watched their backs and many of them had their political ambitions cut short courtesy of the Ribadu boys. It was a period when even serving governors lost their offices because the anti-graft agency was sent after them and were used to arm-twist members of their state House of Assembly to send them packing.
However, the hyperactivity of the Commission and its operatives notwithstanding, the agency appeared largely to have been engaging in what could be termed ‘motion without movement’, or ‘barking without biting’.

The truth is that this is not the first time the EFCC will be engaged in serious activity; arresting, investigating and prosecution. The anti-graft agency undoubtedly maintains a record among the law enforcement agencies in the country as the most visible when it comes to that. It has investigated and arrested the highest number of high profile and politically exposed individuals in the recent history of Nigeria. So the current spate of arrests and investigations are not new. What is however yet to be seen is what will become of the current upsurge in its activities.

Looking at the history of the EFCC, it will be discovered that there have been so much arrests and prosecution but very few convictions. The agency, till date, has cases that have run from 2007 till date without conviction.

The EFCC, through some factors, have largely failed in its bid to successfully prosecute cases and secure convincing convictions largely due to its methodologies. These range from lack of diligent prosecution, faulty investigation and off course, its penchant for convicting suspects in the court of public opinion and conducting media trial before allowing the law courts do their jobs.

A cursory look at a number of recent cases will justify the above. It would be recalled that a former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori was arraigned by the EFCC here in Nigeria but failed to secure a conviction as a Federal High Court sitting in Asaba discharged and acquitted him. He was however jailed in London over similar charges of money laundering for which he was acquitted here. The difference between the London prosecutors and the EFCC can be seen in their approach and the diligence with which they prosecuted the case in London.

Two recent cases also points to the inefficiency the anti-graft agency has been grappling with in carrying out its mandate, despite hiring expensive grandstanding senior private lawyers as prosecutors.

The arrest and arraigned in court over charges of money laundering and graft of a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode was ‘celebrated’. The case dragged for several years and at the end of the day, the judge declared him not guilty. The same thing went for a former governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Silva, whose charges were quashed.

Read also: PDP spokesman, Metuh in EFCC net

The EFCC has suffered more defeats than victories in the corruption cases it has taken to court while many others fizzle out as soon as they are taken to court. The agency has given Nigerians the impression that it is more interested in the media buzz that usually accompany any new arrest, especially high profile ones than it is in securing appropriate punishment for the corrupt charges.

It is however heartening to note the resolve or the new zeal the EFCC seems to be bringing to bear under its new boss, Ibrahim Magu. If Magu is as tough and resolute as he talks, then, a new EFCC may be in the offing. AN EFCC that will not just arrest, celebrates it, go to court and then to bed.

However, Magu may have also started falling into the same old trap that has continually impeded the efficiency of the agency. Talking too much, revealing too much and jumping before looking.

The on-going investigation and prosecution of those allegedly involved in the supposed arms money scandal is an example of doing the same thing the same way and expecting a different result. The agency, unlike what obtains in other parts of the world, and obviously for political reasons, rushed to town, and divulged too much even, when it was obvious it still had a long way to go in its investigations. Too many loose ends needing tying up, yet in the euphoria that it was working on something big, it spilled the beans, allowing those who may be involved to start looking for alibis and tying up their own loose ends.

The EFCC, if it must bark and bite, must undertake an overhaul of its methodologies. It must take a cue from other anti-graft or law enforcement agencies in other climes. It must stop media trials and allow courts do their jobs, while it also should be more discreet in its investigation processes.

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now