EFCC: BETWEEN EL-RUFAI, RIBADU AND SELECTIVE APPLICATION OF JUNGLE JUSTICE (1)

[Nuruddeen]

EFCC: BETWEEN EL-RUFAI, RIBADU AND SELECTIVE APPLICATION OF JUNGLE JUSTICE (1)

I have once said that there are gross and fundamental flaws on the manner and methodology of establishing certain law enforcement agencies in Nigeria. I have also said times without number that the idea behind conceiving the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practice and other related offences Commission (ICPC) as parallel law enforcement bodies for fighting criminal offence and other vices that are principally meant to be fought by the Nigerian police, military and courts of law, is certainly unnecessary.

Critics might argue that there is the need for establishing such commissions as the EFCC since our police force and legal systems are not discharging their responsibilities diligently. We shall return to this point later.
However, looking at EFCC and its mode of operation from a broader legal point of view, one would come to realize that it is of doubtful legality. For the process of its establishment is not just legally wrong but also constitutionally misleading under the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, which Cap. E1 of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 refers.
The National Assembly which is 'bestowed' with the responsibility to confer such a power upon the EFCC as contained therein Section 5 and 6 of this Act, certainly has limited jurisdiction without the prejudice to Section 174 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 that gives the Attorney General of the Federation veto power to institute, constitute, continue or discontinue legal proceedings against any person in any court other than a court martial, in respect of offence created by or under any Act of the National Assembly. It is only the Attorney General who under Section 174 subsection (1) of the 1999 Constitution that can exercise an unimpeded power over any person that is alleged by law to have committed offence punishable in court or otherwise.

The EFCC therefore has no legal justification whatsoever to persecute, arrest or rescind a case- be it criminal or civil, which has already being submitted or taken before the court of law.

In the case of El-Rufa'i/ Ribadu versus EFCC, I think the latter goofed by acting ultra bires over the issues of the duo (El-Rufa'i and Ribadu) that have since being dragged to courts for determination. Indeed, the much taciturnity and political hullabaloo about El-Rufa'i's alleged destruction of properties and allocation of plots of lands to his 'kith' and 'kin' in Abuja; the shameful witch-hunting and embarrassment of Nuhu Ribadu on his role in dealing with tough government criminals and thieves, will do no good to our national image, but cause more harm by making the government becomes more mercenary in her much talked about rule of law.

Instead of the EFCC to go after Obasanjo-the man who allegedly spent $16 billion in an irresponsible attempt to rescue our power wahala, or pursue religiously people such as Dariye who has been caught red-handed by the United Kingdom(UK) metropolitan police with tax payers money abroad, or even run helter-skelter after Saminu Turaki who accumulated a terrible debt of more than N250 billion to a ravaged  tiny agrarian state that was supposed to grow more than any other state in Nigeria, it is just building castle on the air, wasting time on those people that have done  good in their own capacity to salvage the country from political racketeers. What a shame!
To me, it is absolutely wrong if not injurious for the EFCC to say that they are about to ask Interpol to arrest El-Rufa'i for reasons that can never be justified before any court law.

Indeed, the political immaturity exhibited in the case of Nuhu Ribadu and El-Rufa'i by some members of the EFCC and country's ruling class who use their power and privileged positions for personal aggrandizement rather than to serve the masses, is no doubt unwholesome to our national savvy. For instance, Ribadu was a man that was hell-bent on fighting thieves and corrupt government officials, but today some of these thieves have collaborated to fight back at him, because we are a nation that does not honour good?
Shamelessly, the man was asked to go back to school and it was he that went, but in the end was denied the certificate of graduation as and when due. And don't forget that he was also demoted willy nilly!

And El-Rufa'i, for his unflinching effort to comply with the Abuja master plan as a competent quantity surveyor, he is now caught by people with insatiable lust for political power characterized by deliberate falsehood and political intolerance. People who specialize in victimizing political opponents merely for the purpose of satisfying their insatiable ego.

My candid advice to EFCC and the present government is to tread softly so as not to trample and/or find themselves under human rights violations that clearly states to any commission or government to "determine whether an individual violates or abuses the product of deliberate state policy or the policy of its organs or institutions or whether they arise from abuses by state officials of this office or whether they are acts of any political organizations or movements", in court of law.
Therefore, there is the need to exercise some caution on dealing with individual interests in order to create necessary political and economic conditions that will facilitate the independence of our common destiny and foster national cohesion.

Jibo Nura,
Site Project Manager,
MOBAT Quants Consultants and Project Managers,
Yankari Holiday Resort and Safari Project,
Bauchi State.
Contact Nura at: jibonura@yahoo.com[/color]