The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has debunked claims that it has not made meaningful progress, stressing that the courts have the final say in convictions in cases of corruption.
EFCC’s Secretary, Mr. Emmanuel Akomaye, made the declaration in Abuja on Sunday when he spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He said that the public misconception was based on the premise that once a person was alleged to have stolen money the person should be convicted immediately.
“Between 2003 and now that the EFCC was established and started operating, we have had not less than 500 convictions of persons in various offences of money laundering, corruption, advance fee fraud, bank fraud, pipeline vandalism, or illegal oil bunkering.
“There was no such record before then. We always look at today, and again, issues of justice are not things that you command to happen, you must follow the process.
“And we should also remember that some few years back, particularly during the military regime, those attempts at instilling disciplines in ways other than through the rule of law became unsustainable, so we must realise that we must do things that we can sustain them over time.
“We are aware that the public wants results now. That is the public perception. They hear that somebody is alleged to have stolen money they believe that you should just take him straight to the court and have him convicted. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t happen like that.
“There is a process in all these, ‘’ ?
Akomaye told NAN that the commission had incurred damages from unconstitutional detention of persons alleged to have stolen funds.
He said: “you detain a man for more than the constitutional period, you have violated his rights and the court goes and awards him N10 million as damages.’’
“As I speak to you, the EFCC has incurred damages arising from allegations of fundamental humans rights abuse close to N200 million and awarded by various courts.’’
He recalled that during the military regime, attempts made at maintaining law and order were unsustainable.
Akomaye expressed the need to do things in a sustainable manner.
He stressed that the commission was a segment in the chain of justice, stressing that it could not perform the duties of the courts.
“In any case, the EFCC is just a segment in the chain of justice; we cannot perform the responsibility of the court no matter how we try. It is not our responsibility to convict accused persons.
“The best we can do is to process the cases to the doorsteps of the courts and they the courts will take it from there.
“The summary is that we are making progress. No matter how the public perceives the work, we are making sure, but steady progress.’’
Akomaye urged the public to understand that the work of corruption fighting was time- consuming, stressing that with time, corruption would be a thing of the past in Nigeria. (NAN)