A civil society organisation (CSO), Justice For All Nations (JFAN), has
condemned yesterday’s invasion of a club in Ibadan, Oyo State by
operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),
describing it as capable of collapsing business activities in the
city.
In a release issued on Sunday, and signed by its Coordinator, Dr. Dada
Popoola, JFAN, which called for caution concerning the EFCC
operations, questioned the propriety and legality of the EFCC sending
its operatives to raid relaxation centres, injuring people and
whisking them away in handcuffs like common criminals.
The group called on the EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, to caution
his men so as not to turn the respected agency to an object of
ridicule and attacks by the public.
JFAN, which said the EFCC was fast taking over the barbaric acts of
Police State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), said it was wrong for
operatives of the anti-graft commission to have invaded Club 360 in
Ibadan last night without any prior invitation of the club owner or
any of its customers.
The group accused the EFCC operatives in Ibadan of carrying out the
raid with the sole aim of extorting those arrested, adding that if
there were reports on allegations of fraud against those that were
arrested, there were better ways of arresting them instead of invading
a business premises and harassing innocent Nigerians.
It said the reports available indicated that those arrested by the
EFCC operatives were being made to part with huge sums of money to
secure their freedom.
The CSO said even though it was not in support of financial crimes,
especially internet fraud otherwise known as Yahoo Yahoo, it was
important for the EFCC to be cautioned so as not to scare people with
genuine source of income away from patronizing the affected club
house, thereby collapsing the business.
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JFAN said no responsible anti-corruption agency will carry out its
operations by raiding clubs and other public places in a commando-like
manner to arrest both the guilty and the innocent. Rather, the global
best practice is for thorough investigations to have been conducted
and prima facie case established before seeking to arrest suspects.
