EFCC has no excuse for unrepentant brutality

THE reign of impunity and human rights abuse by some officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission under the Bola Tinubu administration is getting worse. In the latest instalment, EFCC officials crudely assaulted a woman during an early morning sting operation at The Regional Hotel in Ojo, Lagos. The anti-graft agency is blighting Nigeria’s democracy. EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede and President Bola Tinubu should rein in the excesses of the officials.

This unjust action which offends the sensibilities has become a pattern of the anti-graft agency and it needs to stop. The EFCC needs to set up disciplinary actions against such errant officials and retrace its steps from the trajectory of excesses and gross disregard for human rights.

In June, a disturbing CCTV video footage which went viral on social media, showed about five EFCC officials violently breaking a door and manhandling a woman who was said to be a staff of the hotel. Media reports said the room whose door the irate officials broke through was the one used by staff members, not guests.

Whatever might have been the positive yield of that operation, the action of the EFCC officials caught on camera exemplifies the high-handedness and power abuse that typify sting operations by Nigeria’s security agents.

Although Olukoyede, in a statement by the agency’s spokesman, Dele Oyewale, has “ordered the arrest of the two officers and has directed them to appear before a joint disciplinary team,” the trail of abuse and brutality that EFCC’s raid of hotels, clubs, and resort centres in the pursuit of suspects have left in their wake, calls for the thorough overhaul of its mode of operations.

On June 8, the EFCC conducted a raid on Signature and Abah nightclubs in Akure, Ondo State, and arrested 127 individuals suspected of internet fraud. Reports said the officials arrived in the wee hours of the day, shooting sporadically. “They entered the nightclubs and lounges, tear-gassing people, beating them up, and arresting them,” The PUNCH reported.

Social media users shared videos of the raid in one of the clubs, noting that the EFCC “destroyed the club and hotel rooms. They forcefully broke into the rooms and destroyed the CCTV.” Several people were whisked away and accused of being internet fraudsters. This is unacceptable.

Photographs from victims of the raids showed the bodies of ladies at the club who were beaten by the masked officers and were allegedly dispossessed of their phones. This led to protests by the hotel owners, youths, and civil society groups in Akure. They denounced the raids as barbaric and unlawful. We agree.

In February, EFCC officials reportedly broke into students’ hostels and arrested 14 undergraduates of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, accusing them of internet fraud. That same month, the anti-graft agency raided hostels at the Kwara State University, Malete, and arrested 48 students. In November, 69 students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, were arrested after some off-campus hostels were raided.

This Gestapo-like mode of apprehending suspects speaks to a lack of thorough investigation in tracking financial criminals and violates human rights. The Federal Bureau of Investigation not only advances human rights but also identifies “human rights violators in the US and brings them to justice for violations committed within and outside of the United States.”

The EFCC and its officials must understand that only the court of law is empowered to punish offenders. Therefore, it should carry out its operations professionally and profoundly respect the rule of law. It can apprehend criminals without endangering the economy and brutalising citizens over accusations yet to be proven in a court of law.