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EFCC and The Rule of Law
The insistence in the rule of law seems to have slowed EFCC's pace to a
crawl. EFCC has finally come out to say that if they are to run strictly by the
rule of law, their operations may gradually grind to a halt. The reasons are not
far fetched. Even in advance democracies with sound legal systems, the law often
times stand in the way of crime busting, sometimes leading to the phenomenon of
vigilante cops, cops that take law into their hands and dispense quick
"justice", knowing fully well the state can not match the legal firepower
deployed by crooked criminals who can hire the brightest and the best lawyers to
exploit legal loopholes to set their clients free, free to go commit more crime.
In the case of Nigeria, the legal team does not necessarily have to be the
brightest and the best. All they need is a friendly judge to procure a black
market injunction restraining EFCC from investigating or prosecuting their
principal.
EFCC Chairman Mallam Nuhu Ribadu , speaking during the United Nation's
International Day Against Corruption stated inter alia:
"The United States apply
the rule of law in a manner to suit them when faced with terrorism, and we must
apply the rule of law to suit our peculiar circumstances."
We cannot but agree. Hunting Bin Laden and Al Qaeda with the rule of law would
be a huge joke. The US would spend more time in court that at the back mountains
of Pakistan. Corruption is our own equivalent of terrorism. Office holders hold
the nation to ransom, loot us back to the 19th century, and use same wealth to
compromise the electoral process, disenfranchise the masses and frustrate court process through legal firepower.
However, there is danger at both extremes in this case. Let's first take a look
at the scenario of throwing the rule of law overboard. This was the case in the
Obasanjo years. The EFCC became a loose cannon, employing Gestapo tactics to
"capture" suspects without arrest warrants, pulled down gates, destroyed
property, held houses of assemblies hostage and engineered bizarre impeachment
processes where a tiny minority operating outside the premises of the House of
Assembly (sometimes outside the state) impeached sitting governors and caused
other governors to live under the shadow of the fear of the President.
To make matters more interesting, it seemed only cronies of the former Vice
President appeared on EFCC's radar. The President's men were all above board. An
ex works Minister had to show for his four years in the saddle, death traps,
high profile accidents and a bloated PDP financial war chest for the 2003
selection. An ex NPA board chairman left behind a trail of scandals,
questionable contracts and a waft of foul air. These folks appeared snow white
while Baba was in power.
Continued on Page 2
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