We want convictions not drama, senator tells EFCC

Speaking at the commemoration of the eight-year anniversary of the commission and launch of the Economic and Financial Crimes Law Reports in Abuja yesterday, the former deputy majority leader of the Senate, Victor Ndoma-Egba, said the arrest and detention of the suspects should translate into convictions too.

“The commission should avoid the drama of arresting high profile suspects, they should rather focus on logical conclusion of the convictions,” he said. “The Commission can only say they have achieved success when they secure conviction for the suspect and not when the suspect is arrested.”

Mr Ndoma-Egba said the EFCC leaders need to realise that under the constitution, every accused person is presumed innocent until found guilty. He therefore charged them to place less emphasis on the motion of arrests.

“You should avoid the drama of arrest and engage more on convictions as real work,” he said.

The president of Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Joseph Dauda, also called on EFCC to make their impact felt in every part of the country by pursuing conviction of suspects.

“The essence of the fight against corruption is to stem its tides by getting rid of the scourge and all its allies, with conviction of the perpetrators as a sign we are making progress on the war,” he said.

 

EFCC

Supreme court support

EFCC Chairperson, Farida Waziri, explained that the idea of the Economic Crimes Law Reports was as part of the commission’s desire to provide reference material for legal practitioners, business community, law students and the general public.

“Importantly also, some of the judgments contain definitive pronouncements on recondite issues of law as they pertain to corruption and economic crime. Some of these issues were taken up for the first time,” she said.

The chairperson of the occasion and a justice of the Supreme Court, Aloma Mariam Mukhar, said the commission deserves praise for its performance, despite the relatively harsh operating terrain.

“EFCC has grown to become the premier anti-corruption agency in Africa and indeed the level of recoveries it has made is arguably unparallel in the history of any agency in the world,” she said.

Source: NEXT