TheCable

The Civil Liberty Organizations (CLO) has faulted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over what it described as “unlawful invasion of homes and willful detention of Nigerians against court orders.”

At a press conference in Lagos, the organisation spoke on the recent reported invasion of the Kano residence of Mohammed Adoke, former minister of justice and attorney-general of the federation.

Halima Ibrahim, a board member of the organsation said CLO watched with disbelief how the EFCC had treated Nigerians.

She described as tragicomedy, the invasion of people’s homes without a court warrant as required by the law.

“At the end of the raid on Adoke’s house in which it returned empty handed, the EFCC announced that it raided the house in search of document. It did not, however, say whether the document it was looking for was to be used in prosecuting Adoke or to serve other undeclared purposes”, she said.

“If the document was meant to serve prosecution purpose, it would, therefore, be suggested that the EFCC had no evidence on the basis of which to prosecute the attorney-general.

“It means also that EFCC’s method is to arrest and arraign first, then investigate after. This is certainly against the letters and spirit of our laws.”

Maintaining that CLO was not out to defend Adoke, she told the commission to prosecute the former AGF if it had evidence against him.

“If the EFCC has any credible evidence against the former attorney-general, by any means, they should prosecute him. However, such should be done within the confines of the law,” she said.