Fellow
citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, sometime in a 1783 House
of Commons Speech, William Pitt the Younger, stated albeit instructively
and rightly that “necessity is the plea for every infringement of human
freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.”
It is against this backdrop that I hope
to situate in proper context the brazenly unconstitutional, unlawful,
and illegal actions of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
EFCC, in freezing the Skye Bank Account which the EFCC alleges contains
$31m belonging to Mrs Patience Jonathan popularly known as Mama Peace,
the wife of former President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan GCFR and
immediate past first lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It is pertinent to state that the said
actions of the EFCC is not backed by any law in force in Nigeria
presently inclusive of the EFCC Act. I will buttress this assertion
later in this piece.
Nonetheless, it beggars belief that the
EFCC in its desperation to hound, harass, intimidate, persecute, extort
and expose Mrs.Patience Jonathan to public ridicule, opprobrium and
anger has engaged in crude misinformation of the global public and
manifestly breached not just the Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria 1999 as amended and other extant laws inclusive of its very own
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment)Act,what a
monumental shame!
It may interest you fellow citizens to
note that whereas Section 6(a)-(q)of the EFCC Act, clearly outlines the
functions of the of the EFCC particularly Section 6(b)provides thus “the
investigation of all financial crimes including advance fee fraud,money
laundering,counterfeiting…” While 6(d) states “the adoption of measures
to identify, trace, freeze, confiscate or seize proceeds derived from
terrorist activities, economic and financial crime related offences or
the properties the value of which corresponds to such proceeds;”
Furthermore, Section 7 of the EFCC Act confers Special Powers on the
Commission to wit; 7(1)The Commission has power to (a)”cause
investigations to be conducted as to whether any person,corporate body
or organization has committed an offence under this Act or any other law
relating to economic and financial crimes; (b)”cause investigations to
be conducted into the properties of any person if it appears to the
Commission that the person’s life style and extent of the properties are
not justified by his source of income.”
The above powers of the EFCC
notwithstanding,the EFCC Act in Part V titled “FORFEITURE OF ASSETS OF
PERSONS ARRESTED FOR OFFENCES UNDER THIS ACT” clearly circumscribed the
procedure for undertaking the process of freezing of funds in a
suspect’s corporate or personal bank accounts, particularly a combined
reading of Sections 27 and 34 of the EFCC Act will suffice. Sections
27(1)provides thus “Where a person is ‘arrested’ for committing an
offence under this Act. Such person shall make a full disclosure of all
his assets and properties by completing the Declaration of Assets Form
as specified in Form A of the Schedule to this Act.
(2) “The completed Declaration of Assets Form shall be investigated by the Commission”.
Furthermore,under the same Part V Section 34(1) provides thus:
(2) “The completed Declaration of Assets Form shall be investigated by the Commission”.
Furthermore,under the same Part V Section 34(1) provides thus:
“Notwithstanding anything contained in
any other enactment or law,the Chairman of the Commission or any other
officer authorised by him may,if satisfied that the money in the account
of a person is made through the commission of an offence under this Act
and any of the enactments specified under section 7(2)(a)-(f) of this
Act,apply to the Court ex-parte for power to issue an ‘Order’ as
specified in Form B of the Schedule to this Act,addressed to the manager
of the bank or any other person in control of the financial institution
or designated non-financial institution where the account is or
believed by him to be or the head office of the bank,other financial
institution or designated non-financial institution to freeze the
account.
(2)”The Chairman of the Commission, or any officer authorized by him may by an order issued under. subsection (1) of this section, direct the bank,other financial institution or designated non-financial institution to supply any information and produce books and documents relating to the account and to stop all outward payments,operation or transactions(including any bill of exchange) in respect of the account of the person.(3)”The manager or any other person in control of the financial institution shall take necessary steps to comply with the requirements of the order made pursuant to subsection(2) of this section.
(2)”The Chairman of the Commission, or any officer authorized by him may by an order issued under. subsection (1) of this section, direct the bank,other financial institution or designated non-financial institution to supply any information and produce books and documents relating to the account and to stop all outward payments,operation or transactions(including any bill of exchange) in respect of the account of the person.(3)”The manager or any other person in control of the financial institution shall take necessary steps to comply with the requirements of the order made pursuant to subsection(2) of this section.
The foregoing raises serious questions
regarding the moral and legal basis and justification of the EFCC to
undertake this vindictive Gestapo acts against citizen Dr. Mrs. Patience
Ibifaka Goodluck Jonathan. In the light of the above, there arises
certain fundamental and salient questions to wit:
I) Did the EFCC invite, forward
questionnaires, or arrest Mrs. Patience Goodluck Jonathan for
interrogation in compliance with Part V Section 27 of the EFCC Act in
order for Mama Peace to fill the Declaration of Assets Form in
compliance with the Act? The answer is capital No! Which is a crystal
clear breach of the outlined procedure as enshrined in the EFCC Act and a
crass infringement of Dr. Patience Ibifaka Goodluck Jonathan’s
Constitutionally guaranteed right to fair hearing as espoused in Section
36(6) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended
and expressed in the latin maxim “audi alterem partem” meaning “hear
the other side also”.
(2) Did the EFCC apply and secure an
Ex-parte Order from a Court of competent jurisdiction in Nigeria for the
power to freeze the corporate or personal bank account of Mrs. Patience
Ibifaka Goodluck Jonathan? The answer to the above poser is in the
negative. It therefore necessarily follows that the EFCC is pursuing a
manifestly vindictive mission in flagrant breach of section 34 of its
own EFCC Act.
(3) How much is exactly contained in the
said bank accounts of Dr. (Mrs.) Patience Ibifaka Goodluck Jonathan?
Whilst Mama Peace contends it is less than 10 million U.S. Dollars,the
EFCC in its statement mentioned $31 million.
Since this is the case, shouldn’t the
EFCC ordinarily be glad that Mama Peace is ‘forfeiting’ about 22 million
U.S. Dollars? If so why would Mama Peace be in court with the EFCC to
secure the defreezing of her personal account containing less than $10
million U.S.Dollars instead of $31 million US dollars? It therefore
necessarily follows that the EFCC surely must be on a mission of
malicious misinformation and dissemination of falsehood against citizen
Mama Peace and by extension the family of former President Goodluck
Jonathan. What then is the purpose of this malicious and tyrannical
action of the EFCC? Could it evidently be a mission to impeach the
international statesmanship credibility of former President Goodluck
Jonathan GCFR and to in the process launder the badly battered
anti-corruption image of President Gen. Muhammadu Buhari GCFR as he went
to address the United Nations General Assembly? Could it be a
Machiavellian attempt to extort Dr. Mrs. Patience Ibifaka Jonathan of
her money? Fellow Nigerians, today it is the turn of citizen Dr. Mrs.
Patience Ibifaka Goodluck Jonathan, tomorrow it will definitely be you
and me!
The greatest corruption known to
humanity is institutional corruption and abuse of office because it
destroys the confidence of citizens to explore the machinery of
legitimate state institutions for progress and protection. Therefore, I
submit borrowing the immortal words of John Philpot Curran in his 1790
Speech where he posited that “the condition upon which God hath given
liberty to men is eternal vigilance;which condition if he
break,servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and the
punishment of his guilt.” Nigerians must wake up to safeguard our right
to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and prevent this slide
into tyranny, nepotism and fascism by joining our voices to the mass
movement fighting for respect of the principles of Constitutionalism,
rule of law, federal character, independence of the Judiciary,
Legislature and other governmental institutions such as INEC, EFCC, Code
of Conduct Bureau/ Tribunal and the establishment of a robust
socio-economic framework to engender social justice, economic prosperity
and the greatest happiness to the greatest number of Nigerians by the
administration of President Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR.
Finally my confidence is in God who in
His time vindicates the innocent and oppressed person and I trust the
Judiciary to ensure that all citizens and governmental agencies are
treated equally before the law,borrowing the immortal words of Lord
Denning Master of Rolls in Gouriet v Union of Post Office Workers, “To
every subject in this land,no matter how powerful,I would use Thomas
Fuller’s words over 300 years ago: ‘Be you never so high,the law is
above you.'” Therefore,the EFCC must be made to act under the ambit of
the law in Nigeria.
Jonas G. Iniayemana, Esq, is a Port Harcourt based lawyer.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
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