On Monday, Ola Olukoyede, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), announced that two agency staff members were recently dismissed over corruption allegations.
Mr. Olukoyede made the disclosure during the opening of the 6th Annual Criminal Law Review Conference, hosted by the Rule of Law Development Foundation in Abuja.
The five-day event, themed “Optimising the Administration of Criminal Justice in Nigeria: How to Navigate Emerging and Systemic Challenges of Insecurity and Economic Hardship,” brought together legal experts and stakeholders.
The EFCC chairman revealed that the two staff members were dismissed two weeks ago and emphasized that, moving forward, any staff found guilty of wrongdoing would not only face dismissal but also prosecution.
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“So many other reforms are going on; the issue of our staff and all of that.
“Just two weeks ago, I have cause to dismiss two staff. You can’t be fighting corruption and your hands are dirty.
“He who comes to equity, your hands must also be cleaned.
“And I say I will not only be dismissing them, I will also be prosecuting them because that is what we prosecute others for.
“So you will see that; we are preparing the case files of some of the people we have dismissed.
“If an EFCC staff will not be able to stand publicly with his two hands up and challenge the entire public; whose goat have I collected? Whose bottle of water have I taken illegitimately?
“And I have said this to Nigerians; who has ever given me one kobo in the course of my work, come out and say it. I stand to be challenged.
“I can’t be easily influenced by things like that. That’s why we must make up our minds to work together to do the right thing.
“Any staff that is corrupt, I will show you the way out.
“Again, there are some people who may want to be overzealous. Out of 12, you must have Judas.
“I can’t stand here and say all is perfect. As many as you see, report them to us and we will do justice,” he said.
Mr. Olukoyede mentioned that he himself was once subjected to an investigation for two years while serving as the EFCC secretary.
“I am not just sitting there as chairman of EFCC. I have been on the other side.
“I have been subjected to investigation myself for two years. So I know what it means to subject people to investigations.
“My major objective is to use the instrumentality of this mandate to stimulate the economy and to also follow the rule of law,” he said.
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He stated that integrity is needed to survive, even as legal practitioners.
“Integrity is not about law, it is not about your advocacy ability to write beautiful briefs. No.
“It is about law and morality. Your conscience must tell you to do the right thing. That is what integrity is all about.
“Finally, ethics, value and standard of legal practice must also be reviewed.
“These are essential to me because the job of EFCC is to ensure that corruption does not find space in our national life,” he said.
Olukoyede expressed his openness to constructive criticism of the agency.
“I have never been averse to that. But let us do it in a responsible way. What do we benefit from running down our institutions?” he asked.
According to him, if you notice EFCC is doing anything wrong, come to us.
“We will sit down and I will explain some reformed agenda we are carrying out.
“Upon my resumption of office, we have put some reformed agenda in place.
“We have reviewed our arrest and detention policy. I have had cause to investigate a whole ministry; minister, directors and all of that without detaining anybody over night.
“And I got all the information I needed and the matter is going on fine without detaining a single soul.
“But that does not preclude that if there is the need to detain, we do not detain.
“We have also had cause to equip all our interrogation rooms in compliance with judgment of court.
“Also, I need to let you know that the era of a 100-count charge, 150-count charge, 85-count charge is gone forever in EFCC,” he said.
Olukoyede stated that he had issued a standing directive limiting prosecutions to no more than 15 charges.
“If your case is water tight…, that is why I will never rush to court until I am sure of my proof of evidence.
“I vet case files myself, particularly high-profile cases and the lawyer must give me a draft of the charge.
“We will look at it together, compared with my proof of evidence, sleep over it before I give my go-ahead.
“If we are losing a case, it shouldn’t be on grounds of lack of diligent prosecution.
“If there are other technical issues, fine. But I will be sure that I have done my job and it’s done in such a way that I can defend long after I leave office,” he said.
Mr. Joseph Daudu, the Coordinator of the Rule of Law Development Foundation, stated that the Criminal Law Review Conference began six years ago as one of the foundation’s flagship events.
He explained that its primary purpose was to offer an annual platform for reviewing all developments, especially innovative advancements in the areas of crime apprehension, prosecution, adjudication, and the crucial activities of post-adjudication processes and institutions within the criminal justice system.
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