The Economic and Financial Crime Commission is reportedly investigating
bloggers, newspapers and other journalists allegedly given money by the
Director of Publicity for the Goodluck Jonathan Presidential campaign,
Femi Fani-Kayode.
This was contained in statement signed by the Special Assitant of Media to Fani-Kayode, Jude Ndukwe.
The statement noted that the former Minister of Aviation despite meeting
the conditions for his bail is still under EFCC detention.
“This is to refute the false information being peddled by a section of
the media that former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, who
has remained illegally detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) since May 9, 2016, has not met his bail conditions as
set by EFCC.”
“Chief Fani-Kayode has since fulfilled the conditions for his bail but
rather than take the honourable path of releasing him pending any charge
brought against him, the anti-graft agency moved him from Abuja to
Lagos where they obtained a questionable warrant to further detain him
illegally for another three weeks.”
“This is all in a bid to forcefully extract statements from him that
would implicate his principal, former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
and other PDP leaders including serving governors whom he served as
Director of Media and Publicity of the PDP Campaign Organisation.”
“It is obvious that the EFCC have other opposition leaders whom they
have referred to as “big fish” in their radar and see Fani-Kayode as the
only avenue through which they can “nail” such leaders, hence, the
anti-graft agency’s puerile attempt to keep him in their custody beyond
the legally required length of time in order to break him, his family,
and force him to implicate innocent people just to achieve a more
sinister motive of further silencing the opposition.”
“It is even more worrisome that the activities of the anti-graft agency
has reached an all-time low as they are insisting that the former
Minister of Culture and Tourism should name publishers, editors,
journalists and bloggers he allegedly gave money to during the election
campaigns. What has journalists who covered the PDP campaign as much as
that of APC got to do with this? This is the height of it all.”
“The further insistence by EFCC that Chief Fani-Kayode should deposit a
sum of $1m before he could be let go shows how desperate the agency is
to keep him in their custody and deny him his fundamental rights as
guaranteed under Sections 33,34,35,37 and 41 of the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (As Amended) and Articles 4, 5, 6 and
12 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and
Enforcement) Act Cap 10 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990. This
further confirms our position that even though he has met his bail
conditions, the EFCC have no intention of letting him enjoy his bail nor
do they have any intention of playing by the rules.”
“While we have copiously acknowledged in the past and still do that EFCC
have a constitutional and mandatory duty to carry out their statutory
function as empowered by our laws, it is also our sincerest belief that
these functions can be carried out within the ambit of the law and
without being tainted with vendetta, vindictiveness and politics. These
are what discredit the agency and cast doubts in the minds of Nigerians
about the sincerity of the fight against corruption.”
“In other climes where the fight against corruption has been largely
successful, suspects are thoroughly investigated discretely, arrested
after investigation has been concluded, charged to court and punished if
found guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction. But here, we declare
our targets guilty in the media, arrest them before commencing
investigation and use the courts to obtain contentious orders to keep
the suspects in custody indefinitely in lieu of a court-imposed
post-prosecution sanction.”
“The EFCC should allow Femi Fani-Kayode his freedom especially after
having met their set bail conditions or charge him before a court of
competent jurisdiction forthwith. He is not afraid to defend himself.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment