Babatunji Wusu –
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has come under fire from Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka for apprehending Olu Agunloye, a former minister of power and steel.
Remember that the former Olusegun Obasanjo administration minister was recently proclaimed sought by the anti-graft bureau due to his involvement in the $6 billion Mambilla hydropower contract?
The leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) was questioned and taken into custody by the organization last week.
In a statement on Monday titled, “In pursuit of justice, productivity, under the rule of law,’’ Soyinka described Agunloye’s predicament as a total contempt of sense and justice.
He said everyone involved in the Mabilla project should be invited for questioning and not single out Agunloye for interrogation.
The playwright, therefore, called for the overhaul of security agencies where their activities intrude on the fundamental rights of the citizens.
He said, “The practice of citizen detention at the whim of either religious blackmail or secular arrogation demands curtailment at source, most especially when exercised in defiance of the law, and the pronouncements of its agencies. Anything less goes to remind us that anarchy remains a choice for citizen recourse, with unpredictable consequences.
“The immediate provocation for these reflections is ongoing predicament of a former Minister of Power, Dr. Olu Agunloye, currently detained by the EFCC, in total contempt of sense and justice, or indeed, basic humane considerations. We shall not go into the merit or demerits of the charges raised against him over a 16-year-old project that bears the name Mambilla. –that is the business of the law courts. Our concern at this moment is however only partially on the basis of individual fundamental human rights.
“Most fortuitously, the detention of any former public servant under circumstances such as Agunloye also provokes the question: how is public interest – such as the pursuit of justice – served by such an arbitrary exercise of power?”
Soyinka stated that this was not the first time he had personally intervened in the high-handed and illegal conduct of the EFCC.
He disclosed that Agunloye has made his movements open, saying that he was present and photographed at his sister’s funeral on December 8.
He added, “All the way back to its inception, and public enthusiasm over its mission, I have had cause to use every means to promote and facilitate the success of that mission, while at the same time insisting on the organisation’s operation under the law and citizen entitlement. My personal relations with the EFCC include placing the civic organisation in which I am involved in an active relationship with that corruption-fighting agency, even to the existence of an MOU of collaboration. From the time when intoxicated by righteous zeal, the EFCC in its early years attacked the home and offices of a businessman with a bulldozer, destroying and carrying off valuable equipment, I tackled its then director and demanded civilized usage in opposition to brute force.
“It was this that impelled me to facilitate bringing to Nigeria President Kagame of Rwanda to Nigeria to lecture on how he tackled a deep-seated corruption culture among public servants. That was effected in the context of a conference on that very theme at the dedication of new offices of EFCC. I have never hidden my commitment to the operations of any corruption-fighting agency, including EFCC’s predecessor, the ICPC.
“Those credentials are stated to forestall any time-wasting and distracting interventions – let us now get down to immediate, and nation affective missteps by that same EFCC. The resort to “trial or smear by media” of the most sensationalist kind, launched against the person of Dr. Olu Agunloye is unworthy and reprehensible. Most critically – and I want both governance and citizenry to understand this – it is counterproductive. It inhibits genuine inclination by proficient citizens for public service. That is a lamentable obstacle on the way to any nation’s development.
“Wanted? Just what is that? Olu Agunloye has pursued his movements openly to the extent of being present and photographed at my sister’s funeral on December 8. He did not appear in disguise, did not sneak in and out. He functioned as any normal human being at an event at which the press was present. Less than thirty-six hours later, he was declared wanted.”
