A former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba SAN, has said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Act should be reviewed.
Agbakoba, in two distinct letters dated October 14, addressed to the senate and house of representatives, described the EFCC as being “unconstitutionally” established.
He emphasized the constitutional concerns relevant to law enforcement agencies, pointing out factors prohibiting the government’s efforts to eradicate corruption, as outlined in section 13 of the 1999 Constitution.
Meanwhile, the supreme court has fixed October 22 to hear a lawsuit filed by the attorneys-general of 16 states of the federation.
The particular lawsuit is challenging the constitutional powers of the national assembly to constitute the EFCC and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the powers of these agencies to investigate and prosecute matters connecting to the mishandling of state funds.
The EFCC was founded in 2003 during the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Agbakoba, whilst speaking on the ‘Morning Show’, a programme on Arise TV, claimed that some blunder were made during the legislation establishing the anti-graft agency.
“The EFCC Act is the fastest legislation ever passed in Nigeria—in two days. I suspect very strongly that in the course of passing this legislation so fast, a lot of mistakes were made,” the ex-NBA president claimed.
“One of the mistakes is that the national assembly exceeded its authority under section 4 of the constitution, which imbues it with legislative powers.
“It exceeded its authorities in several ways. Anyone who reads the Act will think that the EFCC is the Nigeria Police Force because that is what it does.
“So, one point that can be made is that could we have two police forces when the EFCC describes itself in the Act as a police force?
“But we know that there is only one police force in Nigeria, and that is the Nigeria Police Force.”
Rationalizing his letter, the senior lawyer noted that the national assembly should review the EFCC’s legitimacy, questioning its constitutional effectiveness.
“The reason I went to the national assembly is to say to them—you created this institution, so maybe it is time you reviewed whether what you created is valid,” he said.
The senior lawyer also added that the EFCC has not been effective in addressing the problem of corruption in the country.
“The EFCC, to my mind, if you take the huge amount of fraud in the country, has not been effective—if we put aside the constitution and look at what the EFCC has done, I’m not going to give them any damn pass mark,” Agbakoba said.
“These guys are terrorists; in my view, they terrorise us; they use their might in their red coats to terrorise us. Once you say EFCC, you are scared; that is not what a law enforcement agency should be; they ought to be better.”
Agbakoba urged the national assembly to clarify the EFCC’s role to resolve validity issues, saying that institutions and the genuineness of legislative and executive actions must be tested.