PANDEF Asks EFCC To Stop Persecuting Persons From South-South Over Corruption Allegations

Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has condemned, in the strongest terms, the recurring persecution and harassment of persons from the South-South geopolitical zone by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged cases of corruption.

The apex South-South socio-cultural organisation, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Ken Robinson, and made available to journalists said the continued “media trial” and persecution of former public office holders, particularly from the zone and other parts of Southern Nigeria by the anti-graft agency was not only unethical but also despicable and irksome.

The group, therefore, cautioned EFCC “to stop the egregious practice immediately,” noting that based on the rule of law, an accused is deemed “innocent until proven guilty” by a competent court of law.

“PANDEF as a responsible organization would not condone corruption in any way but it is the flagrancy and snobbery with which the EFCC carries out its operations that is upsetting.

“The EFCC has continued to conduct its operations in a manner that depicts complete disrespect for the rule of law and fundamental human rights of citizens, as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

“More disturbing is the selectiveness of its operations; from 2016 to date, under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, not less than 30 high profile persons from the south-south geopolitical zone have been harassed, persecuted and prosecuted, mostly, in the ‘court of public opinion’, rather than procedural prosecution in competent courts of law.

“Our people have continued to be maligned and denigrated by the EFCC and other state agencies; some have been hassled to death. These issues are well documented in the public sphere. Let EFCC stop persecuting our people,” PANDEF warned.

The group specifically mentioned the cases of retired Lieutenant General Kenneth Minimah, a former Chief of Army Staff, two other army officers and former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, as classical examples of people of the south shabbily treated with ignominy in the name of fighting corruption.

“It appears to us that the nation’s anti-graft agencies, the EFCC, in particular, has an established protocol whereby persons from certain parts of the country and certain religions are saints, while any person from the south-south zone and the Niger Delta is culpable.

“Just as the unfathomable manner in which former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, was forced out of office remains an indelible signpost of the biases and injustice against the people of the South-South Geopolitical Zone.

“These situations are unacceptable and must stop forthwith. This country belongs to all of us. No section owns Nigeria more than the others,” the group declared.

The group, which lauded the courage and steadfastness of the judiciary in upholding justice, called for an urgent stop to “these shenanigans by the EFCC against General Minimah and indeed any other son or daughter of the South-South geopolitical zone and the Niger Delta region.”

It also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to order an immediate re-organization of personnel of the agency to reflect Federal Character and “erase the tint that it is a tribal/religious investigation agency out to persecute persons from other sections of the country.”