The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) described on Tuesday how a fight between three employees at its Sokoto Zonal Command resulted in the murder of Inspector Abel Isah Dickson, an EFCC employee, on May 7.
EFCC Head of Media and Publicity Wilson Uwujaren gave a press conference about the event at the anti-corruption commission’s offices in Jabi, Abuja. He characterized Dickson’s death as tragic.
EFCC Assistant Superintendent Apata Oluwaseun Odunayo and Inspector Ogbuji Titu Tochukwu disagreed over procedures for the custody of items belonging to a suspect in detention, which resulted in a fight, according to Uwujaren, who briefed journalists on behalf of EFCC Executive Chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa.
“Gentlemen of the press, we are pleased to inform you that we have invited you this morning to brief you on a tragic incident that occurred at our Sokoto Zonal Command and is believed to have resulted in the death of one of our young officers, Inspector of the EFCC, Abel Isah Dickson.
The officer died on May 7, 2023, at the Usmanu DanFodiyo University Teaching Hospital in Sokoto, where he was receiving care for wounds he had suffered two days earlier in an altercation with two other employees: Assistant Superintendent of the EFCC Apata Oluwaseun Odunayo and Inspector of the EFCC Ogbuji Titu Tochukwu.
The commission’s spokesman claimed that the two had gotten into a quarrel because they couldn’t agree on how to handle the possession of items belonging to a suspect who was in custody.
He said that the EFCC had suspended the two officers that the late Dickson had a dispute with before turning them over to the police for additional inquiry and potential legal action.
“According to the most recent information, a two-count holding charge against them at a Chief Magistrate Court in Gwiwa in Sokoto has been filed, bordering on criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide. According to Sections 60 and 191 of the Sokoto State Penal Code Law, 2019, both offenses are punishable, he said.
Uwujaren stated that the two officers will also endure additional disciplinary actions in accordance with the commission’s staff regulations without prejudice to the police investigation.
The occurrence, according to the spokesman, was the first of its sort for the commission. He said that Bawa was devastated by it and has sent his sincere sympathies to the grieving family.
In addition, “he has promised that the Commission will stop at nothing to ensure that those implicated in the officer’s death are brought to justice,” Uwujaren stated.
The chairman “equally warned Commission staff to ensure that their conduct at all times is moderated by the established code of behavior as no act of indiscipline would be tolerated,” the statement continued.
