Gentlemen of the press, we come before you today on behalf of sixty registered Civil Society Groups named *Coalition of Civil Society Organizations in Defence of Democracy* on important national issue, this press conference has become very crucial in order to draw the attention of the global community to the melodrama, theatrics and sheer demonstration of unseriousness which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has demonstrated in what it calls fight against corruption.
You may recall that the confused EFCC had months ago illegally declared Yahaya Bello wanted without sending him an invite. That is not all, to legitimise their illegality, the commission quickly ran to a partner sitting in the temple of justice to issue an arrest warrant on the former governor, the same Justice Nwite who stopped EFCC from arresting an Ekiti state official on same grounds he supported EFCC to declare Yahaya Bello wanted for, yet without officially sending him an invite.
We are more worried that just on Wednesday, September 18, former Governor Yahaya Bello voluntarily submitted himself to the commission to provide answers to whatever he was being sought for, to the greatest surprise of the former governor and those who were in his entourage, he was asked to go home, without being interrogated.
Unfortunately and most disgustingly, just few hours after he was asked to go, the commission allegedly mobilized unknown faces, to the Governor's lodge in Asokoro, invaded that significant symbol of authority in the name of searching for a man they had few hours ago told to go home. This act is nothing but an attempt to assassinate the Governor and overthrow constitutionally recognized government of Kogi state.
For us, this is also a pointer to an attempt to eliminate the former governor just to cover up its inefficiencies and failure to diligently pursue the anti-corruption agenda.
Again, why was the governor's lodge made a war zone by EFCC and its hired mercenaries, firing life bullets to a government facility just to arrest an ordinary citizen?
For us, this is a sheer violation of all known human right laws, a rape on civil liberty and indeed a demonstration that our human rights profile has descended all time low especially in the security sector.
We are surprised that till this moment, instead of explaining to the entire world why it asked a man they declared wanted who freely turned himself in to go, the commission that has lost whatever credibility it had in the past has resorted to illegality and extreme violation under the disguise of trying to arrest a citizen. We must emphasize that this is an assassination attempt.
At the moment, there is no clue on the whereabouts of former governor Yahaya Bello. Nothing has been heard of him and this has put his family and numerous supporters in panic mood. We ask again, where is Yahaya Bello?
A nation that prides itself as the bastion of human rights should not be seen to be in romance with this level of violation which the EFCC has perpetrated in the name of corruption fight.
The goodwill the commission enjoyed in the past has been completely eroded and finally hit its very lowest under the leadership of Ola Olukoyede who appears to be pursuing a sinister agenda.
For the avoidance of doubt, an accused person should be alive to defend whatever allegation leveled against him, but what we see under this commission is a desperate attempt to silence people through highly unconventional means.
We therefore demand the immediate resignation of Ola Olukoyede as the chairman of the EFCC.
We demand immediate probe of this ugly incident by the relevant National Assembly committees supervising the institution of EFCC
We also demand that Justice Emeka Nwite who has been an unholy ally in the illegality of EFCC against Yahaya Bello recuses himself from the case and handover to an objective and unbiased judge whose firmness will be trusted.
Oluwasegun Emmanuel
Convener of Coalition
Oguche Benjamin
Secretary of Coalition
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