Npower News: The EFCC and Betta Edu

According to Npower News a social commentator Ugoji Egbujo has taken online to express his opinion with respect to EFCC and Betta, the social commentator said "the president suspended Betta Edu in early January. The EFCC must have seen something fiery in the smoke of the Betta Edu scandal. The initial investigation and suspension seemed swift and decisive. But those who applauded are now bemused. Because, four months after the president handed the minister to the EFCC for sifting, the woman has neither been charged nor exonerated. Looting can be a complex enterprise requiring meticulous dissection, but the EFCC hasn’t sufficiently informed the public exactly how far it has gone and where the case is headed. And rumours are flourishing."

"The EFCC needs to understand that when it handles politicians, the public wants it to extend to them the hospitality it gives to Yahoo-Yahoo suspects. If ruthlessness is deemed necessary to stem the slide, then it must apply to high-profile cases with greater deterrent potential. The concept of the rule of law is founded on treating ‘like cases alike’. The embezzlement of public funds is advanced Yahoo-Yahoo. The law is neither a respecter of persons nor a predator for small prey. The EFCC must concentrate on big fishes and leave the fingerlings for the Divisional Police Officers." Ugoji Egbujo said.

"The difference between Bobrisky and Better Edu isn’t much. Both are fair-complexioned, feminine and stylish. One is a suspended minister for Humanitarian affairs. The other is a convicted minister of gender ambiguousness. But if the EFCC can’t handle Betta Edu with the speed of light it used to process Bobrisky, then let the EFCC use the methodology it’s applying on Emefiele. An anticorruption agency seeking to stamp out impunity and restore moral values must be predictable."

Furthermore Ugoji Egbujo said "so, in keeping with the Emefiele Charge-as-you-go protocol, the EFCC can prosecute Edu if any infractions are already in the bag. Like for signing cheques for hiring airport taxis in a phantom Kogi airport as alleged. And when and if the EFCC finds more charges, then it can arraign her again and again. This is not an endorsement of prosecutorial rascality. We can’t teach EFCC ethics. But we can ask it to be consistent with whatever ethical model it chooses. We can’t teach the EFCC it’s job, but we can remind it that the public’s confidence in law enforcement wanes with arbitrariness and inconsistencies."

"The EFCC says it is taking its time with Betta Edu. That’s allowed. Perhaps it is taking its time to scour the files and connect multiple dots. It wants to make sure it has inviolable proof. So that it doesn’t get to court and the lady nutmegs it, leaving the agency the butt of silly jokes. And as the Chairman said, the country needs the EFCC to survive. However, the EFCC must be mindful that the public isn’t as gullible as it always appears. The public knows when institutions are monkeying about. The public knows when delay means a lack of seriousness. Many commentators have suggested that the tardiness in Betta Edu’s case, where most material witnesses and evidence are readily available in Abuja, buttresses long-held public suspicions that politicians are generally spared the scorn and venom of the agency."

"The EFCC has done well in many respects. However, it should also be known that the public trusts neither the agency nor the government. In the recent past, governments have made the EFCC look like a willing tool in the hands of politicians. At other times, governments have made the EFCC look like an agency riddled with corruption at the highest level. So the EFCC must always know that the initial fingering of a politician must be followed by a quick and thorough transparent investigation and prosecution. The EFCC must remain acutely conscious of the institutional reputational damage it has suffered."

"The last two EFCC Chairmen have suffered disgrace. Some time ago, Ibrahim Magu, Chairman of the EFCC, was arrested. The presidency said he was a money launderer. The government said it had earth-shaking evidence. That was the justification for sending two truckloads of police officers to arrest Magu as if he were a drug dealer. The government dusted up Justice Salami from retirement to head an inquiry panel. Some saw through the ruse early and called it an expensive fishing expedition. After sitting for almost a year and wasting taxpayers’ funds, the tired panel submitted an underwhelming report and melted away. The report hasn’t been made public. A few months later, Magu was promoted by the Police Service Commission. The public doesn’t like witch hunts, but the EFCC can’t regain trust by being soft and dragging its feet around suspected corrupt politicians only to regain courage with Bobrisky." Ugoji Egbujo stated.

"The EFCC must know that it needs public trust. To rebuild and retain public trust, it must be honest, forthright, transparent and purposeful. It must not treat the Better Edu’s with ambivalence. It must find the same professional animosity it deploys against Emefiele. It must not pick and choose whom to accord backdoor courtesies. It must come to conclusions quickly while carrying the public along. When a high-profile investigation is concluded, the public must know the outcome. So it should never be like the DSS investigation against Mr Bawa, the former EFCC chairman. In that case, the DSS arrested a sitting EFCC chairman.

It said it had good cause to detain him for four months. It must be assumed that the four months were used for probing and digging. After four months, the man was released. The anxious public was left to speculate. The next thing we saw was Bawa in a triumphant entry into his village in Kebbi; men were drumming, and women were dancing. Months after the man was released, neither the DSS nor the presidency that supervises it has bothered to tell the public whether the man was found culpable or not. And why a citizen was detained for four whole months during the reign of a president who had suffered under a dictatorship and championed a return to democracy. The EFCC must act speedily to counter insinuations that Betta Edu’s is a political smokescreen.

Often, the EFCC can’t tell the public everything. That might jeopardise sensitive investigations that require secrecy. Sometimes, the details the public must not hear are political hurdles from above and beneath, which the agency must navigate to survive. However, the EFCC should know that it must tell the public just enough to prevent debilitating rumours from sprouting to fill the gaps left by lack of information and suspicious silence. The government hasn’t filled Betta Edu’s position in the cabinet. That could be ominous. Often the public can’t appreciate what the EFCC suffers under chameleonic political bosses. But as much as possible, the EFCC must prioritise institutional pride over ass-licking if the agency must survive."

"The EFCC exists to promote accountability and banish impunity in financial dealings. When politicians who have been fingered by the EFCC strut out of office and immunity and walk into other high govt positions, the public expects the EFCC to defend its integrity by speaking out. When the EFCC sits and watches in silence as corrupt politicians get appointed into higher offices, or distracts itself from the humiliation by chasing after fingerlings, it becomes complicit."

"Hopefully, someday, we will reach the point where senior bold EFCC officers will resign their positions publicly rather than sit on files with their hands tied by their political bosses. The EFCC was designed to lead and disrupt, not to play second fiddle and comply with entrenched sordid traditions. At that point, after such resignations, we will know that the EFCC has survived." Ugoji Egbujo said.

Source: Vanguard