By Reuben Abati

“The knee on his neck” reminds us of the case of the American citizen, George Floyd, who was murdered in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 25 May, 2020 by a policeman, Derek Chauvin, a white police officer who pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of Nigeria, the body empowered to investigate financial crimes in Nigeria, money laundering, corruption, economic sabotage and prosecute offenders, is in a similar situation.

It is being accused of committing a crime itself and its adversaries are pressing its neck.

The only difference in the Floyd analogy is that the EFCC is a creation of law: the EFCC Establishment Act of 2004, and except that law is repealed or abrogated, the institution should continue to live.

Nonetheless, institutions can die if they lose their relevance, value and respect in the eyes of the public. Those who are trying to kill the EFCC are trying to achieve that objective. Any institution, no matter its legal justification, is only as useful as it is accepted by the society it serves.

It is therefore understandable that the EFCC, thus finding itself in the eye of the storm, has been all over the media defending its reputation in the last few weeks. Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC spokesperson, was on Arise News.

The Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede Esq., was himself on Channels TV this last Sunday. This tit-for-tat between EFCC and its critics is not new. Long before now, informed Nigerians, notably Nuhu Ribadu and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had argued that corruption always fights back. The latter, in a book of the same title, in fact concluded that “fighting Corruption is Dangerous”.

The current EFCC Chairman is having another round of baptism, linked directly to the reluctance of the Nigerian elite to accept that corruption deserves to be investigated and tackled. The reason for this is both cultural and human.

Most Nigerians believe that Nigeria is a huge pie, a well-made cake, that is not shared fairly and whoever gets a chance to steal a slice of that cake, either at a personal, corporate or institutional level, and does not get caught, to redress the imbalance or inequity in the country, is a very smart person indeed.

In other words, cheating, fraud, theft, greed, more or less, constitute a national ethic. Even so-called religious figures steal. It does not matter what the Holy Books say. Some of the biggest thieves in this very religious country are the clerics, be they Christian, Muslim or animist.

Civil servants are not civil in any way. Public officers do not serve the public, they serve themselves. Traditional institutions would rather honour persons whose source of wealth is unknown. The universities have now joined them, and honour is now a commodity that can be bought.

Nigeria has always been affected by this reputation in the international sphere. In 2002, Nigeria was listed along with 23 other countries that were notorious for financial crimes and money laundering.

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) blacklisted the country, making international financial transactions difficult for Nigerians.

In response to this pressure, the Obasanjo administration established the EFCC to go after corrupt persons, and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to descend on corrupt public officials.

The ICPC came earlier in 2000, and there have been arguments about the overlap of functions between both bodies, and their independence from political influence exerted by the Executive, but over time, the EFCC has been the most dominant of the two bodies, and perhaps the most controversial.

It handles more high-profile cases. It is far more dramatic in its efforts, and it has been accused of being a willing tool for the promotion of the preferences of the government of the day to suppress the opposition and to demonise persons who are not in the good books of the ruling party.

This is the clear context of the pressure currently on the neck of Olukoyede’s EFCC, triggered by cases involving the Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Muhammed and his Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, Dr Yakubu Adamu, as well as the case of former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN).

Yakubu Adamu, a former branch manager of Polaris Bank Plc was accused of having conspired to launder a total sum of $9.7 million for the Bauchi State Government; a charge to which he has since pleaded not guilty and for which he has been denied bail and remanded in prison, along with three other defendants who are altogether accused of terrorism financing.

The Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Muhammed, the principal of the accused persons, has since decried the attempt to link either his state or his person, or associates with terrorism financing, alleging that as a sitting governor, he enjoys constitutionally guaranteed immunity, and that the only reason he is being targeted is because he has refused to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) political party at the centre.

He said: “The APC-led Federal Government thinks it can use the courts and institutions of government, like the EFCC, to persecute and prosecute Nigerians who are not in their party. If they don’t stop, we’re going to declare war.”

His name was mentioned in a motion in court. He has now vowed never to join the APC. He has the support of groups in Bauchi State, including the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), Christian Youths Initiative for Peace (CYIFP), and Concerned Bauchi Citizens. These supporters have been very loud in the media, so loud that the EFCC was left with no option but to defend itself.

Similarly, the former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) was arraigned along with his wife, Hajia Bashir Asabe, and his son, Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami, over alleged money laundering offences to the tune of ₦8.7 billion, on a 16-count charge bordering on conspiracy.

They have pleaded not guilty. They were briefly remanded in Kuje prison, and have since been granted a ₦500 million bail each by the court of Justice Emeka Nwite. Hearing in the case has been adjourned till 17 February.

But as in the Bauchi case, the principal accused person has declared that the allegations against him and his family are “baseless, illogical and wholly devoid of substance.” He insists that he was not involved in any form of money laundering, and that the EFCC is acting on the basis of “deep-seated historical animosity, personal vendetta, bias and retaliatory persecution.”

He demanded that the EFCC Chairman should step aside. Malami was a member of the APC, and served as attorney general of the federation under the Buhari administration. He recently declared his interest in running for the governorship of Kebbi State on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

The link between both cases is the claim that the main persons are being persecuted and tried in court because of their refusal to join the ruling party. Their supporters have also alleged that the Tinubu administration is using the anti-corruption agencies to play politics: to forgive those who join the APC and promote the president in the light of the obvious drift towards APC dominance across the country, and punish, persecute and trouble those who insist on opposition politics.

A wing of the Nigerian commentariat is also all over the media with the argument that cases involving APC figures, where such exist, tend to run very slowly in the courts, and they quietly peter out, whereas allegations against opposition figures tend to run very quickly judicially, with the EFCC showing much enthusiasm.

The allegations against the EFCC are weighty and it is just as well that the institution has chosen to defend itself.  Uwujaren has argued that the EFCC is completely neutral and apolitical, and that it is not the fault of the body if cases tend to drag in the courts.

The EFCC, he noted, has no control over the machinery of justice. The EFCC Chairman has also responded that he has no personal animus against former AGF Malami, and on the allegation that he was once indicted by the Ayo Salami panel of inquiry, he said the proof should be published by those who claim to have it.

He added: “Let me tell Nigerians that the commission’s investigation panel cleared me of any wrongdoing. The presidency at the time also cleared me. The law enforcement agencies handed me a clean bill.

I can say clearly that there’s no report anywhere that I’ve been involved in any fraudulent dealings…”  He added that he, in fact, inherited the Malami case from his predecessor, and that in 2025 alone, he re-opened many cases that had gone cold.

He used the opportunity to draw attention to many high profile cases that the EFCC under his watch has treated, leading to thousands of convictions, and the recovery of assets – tangible and intangible. He denied that opposition politicians are being targeted. He wants Nigerians to allow the EFCC to breathe! “I can’t breathe” said George Floyd on 25 May, 2020.

It seems to me that the EFCC should indeed be allowed to breathe. While it is important to keep the Nigerian public abreast of the activities of the EFCC, in the spirit of transparency, both the agency and the public, especially the media, should desist from a media trial.

The pattern around this, which is absolutely wrong, is that once a person’s name is mentioned in connection with any matter involving the EFCC, the person is immediately considered guilty by interested groups who may even have no knowledge of the details of the matter.

This stems from the widespread assumption that whoever goes into government to serve is not there to serve anybody but himself or herself, and that only thieves accept public appointments. There is so much distrust of the public arena among Nigerians.

The principle in law, however, is that no man can be judged guilty until he has been convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction. Nigerians do not trust the courts. They believe that judges are not pursuing justice but their own self-interests or the dictates of hidden puppeteers.

Culturally, Nigerians believe that the only man who gets caught is the one society calls a thief, otherwise every Nigerian is a thief. The rule is don’t get caught – a mindset that does not even respect the administration of the justice system.

It is a great burden, indeed, to have a society that has no faith in its own processes. This is the big challenge that the current EFCC Chairman, those before him and the ones that will come after, face.

In Olukoyede’s case, there is the added skepticism that the Tinubu administration that has not been aggressive about the fight against corruption – many even doubt its moral credentials – has now suddenly woken up in the lead up to the 2027 elections to launch a war against corruption. Why now? Nigerians ask. But is there a best time to apply the law?

The current ruckus will pass. Everything passes in Nigeria, without record, trace, or resolution. But let this be said and noted: Nobody is above the law.

It is not true that the governor of a state in Nigeria cannot be investigated or mentioned in a motion in court because he enjoys immunity. There are a plethora of cases establishing that a governor can be investigated, and illegal assets acquired by a governor can be temporarily forfeited.  In the on-going Malami case also, a temporary forfeiture of assets is reported, obviously to preserve the rest in the matter – 57 properties in all valued at ₦213.2 billion.

The burden has now shifted to Malami (SAN). What is in his original assets declaration form before and after office? What was his salary or income? What is he paying as tax? These are the issues, not the media debates between EFCC and its critics.

In the long run, however, there should be dedicated, special courts, designated strictly to deal with corruption cases expeditiously and to address the allegation that EFCC cases tend to stay too long in the courts. Our courts do not always meet the people’s expectations. They are part of the problem.

Reuben Abati, a former presidential spokesperson, writes from Lagos. 

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