Influential
PDP chieftain who was released some days ago from EFCC detention after
spending 24 days, has faulted in a newly released statement what he
termed, the antics of the EFCC and the media to blackout
Femi Fani-Kayode
In an official statement released in Abuja on Tuesday by Jude
Ndukwe, the embattled PDP chieftain and former Minister, Chief Femi
Fani-Kayode, faulted what he termed, the antics of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the media to blackout the events
that took place in the court of Justice Muslim Hassan on the 14ty
November.
According to a report by Vanguard,
the former spokesperson of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s
presidential campaign Organisation, said the brutal and unlawful ways of
the acting Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, has created more enemies for
the government of President Buhari, adding that he has also done
greater damage to the war against corruption by targetting innocent men
and women for persecution rather than prosecution.
Fani Kayode's statement read thus:
“On monday November 14th 2016 at the Federal High Court in
Lagos, Justice Muslim Hassan lambasted the EFFC and its prosecutor, one
Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, in open court for arresting Chief Femi Fani-Kayode
at the Federal High Court premises on 21st October without an arrest
warrant and for detaining him illegally without any detention order for
24 days.
“This was made all the more damning by the fact that Justice
Hassan had previously warned the EFCC not to re-arrest Chief Fani-Kayode
who had been previously detained by them for 67 days.
“Justice Hassan said this because he had granted Chief
Fani-Kayode court bail as far back as July 4th and at the previous
court session he had specifically warned and admonished the EFCC not to
re-arrest or detain him after his lawyer told the court that that was
what they were planning to do.
“Justice Hassan told the EFCC that serving charges on an
accused person should not warrant arrest and detention and that he
himself was once a prosecutor and that was not the way things are meant
to be done.
“When Oyedepo attempted to lie to the court and feign ignorance
of the re- arrest and detention of Chief Fani-Kayode and when he tried
to proffer a shameless and disgraceful justification for it after he was
forced to admit that it happened, Justice Hassan advised him to stop
trying to defend the indefensible and advised him to tender his
apologies to the court for the illegal behaviour of the EFCC.
“Oyedepo took the advice and he promptly apologised. The
behaviour of the EFCC and their gestapo-like tactics does not surprise
us because the hatred and pure venom that the Acting Chairman of the
EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, harbours for Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, his family and
indeed any member of the opposition that speaks out openly against the
government is self-evident and legendary.
“What is more surprising is the fact that every single
newspaper in the country blacked out the story, with the exception of
The Nation, and refused to report what was essentially a very serious
and rare rebuke by a sitting Federal High Court judge about the wayward
and reckless abuse of power by an organisation that is headed by a man
who is filled with malice and who is prepared to do anything, including
using the most primitive and barbaric practices of brutality and force
and the perverse manipulation, threatening and teleguiding of the media
to crush all forms of dissent and opposition in the name of fighting
corruption.
“The truth is that Magu and his brutal and unlawful ways has
created more enemies for the government and has thwarted and done
greater damage to the war against corruption by targetting innocent men
and women for persecution rather than prosecution.
“Chief Fani-Kayode has been detanied in underground cells by
the EFCC for no less than a total of three months since the Buhari
regime came to power all in the name of the investigation of spurious
offences and baseless allegations when the law clearly states that an
arrest and detention should only take place after an investigation is
completed.
“Those in the media that, for reasons best known to themselves,
chose to black out and refuse to report what really transpired in
Justice Hassan’s court on monday 14th November and who sought to cover
up the fact that the EFCC was openly rebuked and reprimanded for their
barbaric ways and sordid tactics would do well to remember that though
it is Chief Fani-Kayode’s rights that are being violated today it may
well be theirs or that of their editors or publishers tomorrow.
“It is important that the Nigerian people know the truth about
the way in which the EFCC behaves and reporting events factually and
accurately is the lifeblood of democracy. We urge the Nigerian media to
rise up to the occassion and not allow themselves to be used by a group
of ruthless headhunters who wish to cover up their atrocities.”
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