Bello vs EFCC: Youths protest in Bauchi, Gombe, urge Tinubu’s intervention

CSOs raise concerns over ex-gov’s safety

Youth groups in Bauchi and Gombe states have staged peaceful protests in solidarity with the former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, whom they claim is being unjustly persecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

This was as frontline anti-corruption civil society organisations have again urged the EFCC to follow the rule of law and not continue to paint its activities in a political hue.

The youth groups, North Central Progressive Voice and the Northern Youth Movement for Good Governance and Democratic Values, led the demonstrations, calling for President Bola Tinubu to intervene.

They believe that the EFCC’s actions were violating the rule of law and seeking to draw unnecessary attention to this issue. At the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre in Bauchi, where the protest began, they convened a world news conference and presented an open letter to Sheikh Dairu Bauchi, seeking his influential mediation to resolve the crisis peacefully.

The group’s spokesperson, Ismaila Danladi, criticised the EFCC’s handling of the matter and delivered their letter to Gombe State Governor, Inuwa Yahaya, for expedited transmission to Tinubu.

ACCORDING to the anti-corruption CSOs, with the way the EFCC has handled the matter, so far, especially the threats from the lawyers and the commission’s boss, it is justifiable to say that Bello’s life might not be safe in the custody of EFCC as being expressed by his supporters. “And we believe this is a legitimate fear.”

The activists, who gathered in Lagos, yesterday, for a press briefing on the state of Nigeria’s fight against corruption, noted: “The principle of justice presupposes that its scales are always balanced and blind to personality, creed, gender, race or status.”

They specifically pointed out that what had led to the overheating of the polity was the unwillingness of EFCC to follow the due processes of law. The Chairman, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), Debo Adeniran, who led other CSOs at the briefing, said, “The question will remain a subject of legal interrogation, whether charges filed against a subsisting court order can stand the test of legal scrutiny. If a court of competent jurisdiction has ruled that you must stay action on a particular matter, pending the determination of the matter before it, but that action was executed despite the order, one wonders how valid such charges could be in the long run.”

Activists at the event were Olufemi Lawson, Declan Ihekiare, Gbenga Soloki, Abdullahi Usman, Funmi Jolade, Shina Loremikan, Akeem Olanrewaju and Gbenga Ganzallo.

Others include Jude Ochiagha, Hakeem Sowole, Kolawole Egunsebi, Shina Ishola, Leke Adebanjo, Peter Olayinka, Fola Akinola, Musiliu Adeajo, Chukwudi Mmeje, Samuel Olatoyin and Rotimi Akinade.