24092020 - BLACK WEDNESDAY: 30 killed in Kogi petrol tanker explosion

26 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020
Lawyers divided over AGF’s plan
to whittle down EFCC’s powers
By Henry Ojelu &
Onozure Dania
The Assets Recovery body
created out of the Economic
and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, by the
Attorney-General of the
Federation and Minister of
Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN,
which seems to whittle down the
power of the commission, has
continued to generate reactions.
In this edition, lawyers who
spoke to Vanguard Law and
Human Rights, expressed
divergent views.
Excerpt:
Kabir Akingbolu: "The plan by
the AGF to whittle down the power
of the EFCC is an unfortunate one
and a clear attempt to undermine
the very essence of the agency and
by extension, the end of the
corruption fighting mantra of the
Buhari-led administration. For
crying out loud, the AGF is at the
centre of the controversy, nothing is
being done about it but the attention
of the AGF whom many people,
especially the NBA, are levelling
allegations of corruption and other
malfeasances against, has suddenly
moved to amend the EFCC enabling
Act to whittle down the powers of
the EFCC, perhaps to bring it under
his control more than ever before.
“This is bad and highly distasteful.
I make bold to say this because once
the independence of the EFCC is
tampered with beyond what it is
today, we are back in Egypt as far
as corruption is concerned. In fact,
it means the very carrot dangled
before us to vote for the president
has become sour. It is a pity and I
pray the AGF does not succeed in
this assignment, but if he does,
posterity will judge our leaders to
have condoned illegality.”
Evans Ufeli, Executive
Director, Cadrell Advocacy
Centre: “The EFCC Act no doubt
needs to be amended but not in the
light the AGF wants it done. The
AGF wants the EFCC to be
subservient to him because he feels
his powers under section 175 of the
1999 Constitution as amended
confers on him the enormous
powers to boss every other law
enforcement agency. He is wrong.
The EFCC is a creation of an Act of
Parliament grafted with
independent powers to investigate,
arrest, prosecute and trace
economic and financial crime
offenders and their assets thereof
and subject the proceeds of their
crimes for forfeiture when necessary
through the judicial system.
“The AGF wants to drag the
EFCC with these enormous
functions under his whims and
caprices to weaken the commission
and soil its reputation. I think the
EFCC Act should rather be
amended to allow for a neutral body
to manage forfeited assets to enable
the organisation focus on its primary
duty as an anti-graft agency as
stated by law.
“Perhaps, the AMCON Act
should be amended and its
jurisdiction expanded to allow for it
to manage forfeited assets and
proceeds of crime rather than
subjecting it to the apron string of
the AGF. That is too dangerous. Or
a new institution should be
established to manage assets
*Malami, SAN, AGF and Minister of Justice
altogether.”
Adesina Ogunlana, NBA exchairman,
Ikeja branch: “Not
necessarily. Remember the present
issue with the deposed EFCC head
is on the management of recovered
assets. The division could be a form
of separation of responsibilities to
avoid abuse of powers.”
Chief Morah Ekwunoh:
said: “Frankly speaking, the EFCC
is overdue for going under the knife
of serious reformative surgery, so as
to slightly unbundle it with a view
to creating a separate and distinct
body or agency of government
saddled with another aspect of its
present hybrid. As John Gower
would say, “jack of all trades, but
master of none.” Powers and
responsibilities of, amongst others,
initiation of complaints,
investigation, prosecution, and
assets recovery and management,
but not, to the least, cast in the mould
of the proposed Proceeds of Crime
Recovery and Management
We should be
concerned about
the message and
not the messenger,
separating and
creating an
independent body
to manage the
recovered assets by
the EFCC is a
welcome
development and
has long been
overdue
Agency, but in the mould of
separate prosecutorial agency.
“Variables which readily spout in
justification this position include
radical reduction in, and lightening
of, heavy yoke of absolute powers
on EFCC, which, as Lord Acton
would also say, “corrupts
absolutely”, and derail it, as
exemplified by startling revelations
from the Justice Ayo Salami-led
Presidential Panel investigating its
erstwhile Chairman, Ibrahim
Magu; its service as precursor to
insulation of the agency from the
apron strings of the Presidency and
the Attorney-General of the
Federation, jointly and/or severally,
which have, over the years,
employed and deployed same as
willing and ready tool to hunt,
witch-hunt and hound perceived
political enemies and intellectual
‘prophets’ and conveyor belts of
plurality of critical, but highly
invaluable, views on governance;
and compliance with globally
acknowledged practice of not being
the complainant, investigator and
prosecutor, all at once, in conformity
to the basic cannons of impartiality,
fairness and natural justice, as
encapsulated in section 36 (1) of the
1999 Constitution, as amended.
“In the circumstances, creation of
separate prosecutorial agency, as
opposed to the proposed creation
of Proceeds of Crime Recovery and
Management Agency, will greatly
oil and lubricate the agency’s
operational engine for optimal
efficiency.
“On whether the proposal is a plot
to destroy EFCC for personal gains
out of its ashes of ruin, l posit, with
utmost sublimity, that, in all its pitch
and substance, form and content,
the move may not destroy EFCC to
smithereens, but will allow the
executive, through the umblical cord
of the new agency, and while
balancing like a spider at the centre
of its web, balefully embarks on sole
cherry-picking over the enormous
juice and sauces derivable from the
EFCC very lucrative operations.
“In another phraseology, it wants
to be in the position to pluck and
enjoy the honey, while sidetracking
08152060944
Tributes at Karibi-Whyte’s service of songs
THE family of late Supreme
Court Justice, Adolphus
Karibi-Whyte held a service of
songs for him last Thursday at the
Church of Nativity, Parkview
Estate, Lagos.
Friends and family members of
the late jurist paid glowing tributes
to him, acknowledging him as one
of Nigeria’s most illustrious
judicial officers.
In attendance at the event were
late jusrist’s children led by his
son, Mr Dagogo Karibi-Whyte,
notable lawyers and judges,
including Chief Olakurin, SAN,
Mr George Etomi, Chuka Agbu,
SAN, former NBA President and
Augustine Alegeh, SAN.
Former Petroleum Minister, Mr
Odein Ajumogobia, SAN said of
him ‘although most of his
judgments were dissenting,
Parliament changed the laws
following his judgments, even
when he dissents from the other
six justices.
‘He was a professor of law at the
University of Lagos before going
to the Bench and he was very
and neglecting the bees that
labouriously produced the sweet
honey.”
Chief Goddy Uwazurike,
former President, Aka Ikenga:
“I don’t think there is a plan to whittle
down the powers of the EFCC. The
Act that set up EFCC clearly
delineated its powers which are
clearly enormous. But the activities
of the body in some areas must be
subject to the directives of the AGF.
One of such directives is on disposal
of seized assets. From the media
exchanges, we believe that EFCC
did not take instructions from the
AGF. The creation of a new agency
is unnecessary as the function of
managing the assets can
conveniently be assigned to a desk
in the office of the AG.
“It is more of record keeping which
I believe is lacking right now. If you
remember when Magu appeared
for confirmation in the Senate, a
couple of years, he could not give
account of the recovered assets.
EFCC was created under Obasanjo
and it has always had a turbulent
time under different AGFs. The boss
of EFCC must be mature enough
to understand that his power is not
absolute.
“Until Magu was removed, he
saw himself as above the control of
the court. He was untouchable.
Lawyers, in the process of
representing their clients, became
exposed to danger. But Magu feels
the need for legal representation
now. It is wrong to accuse AGF of
seeking to destroy EFCC for
personal gains. His stay as AGF is
not permanent. The AGF is the chief
law officer of the Federal Republic!
His office is constitutional; EFCC is
a creation of the National Assembly.”
Abdulganeey Imran, Centre
for Law & Civil Culture: “We
should be concerned about the
message and not the messenger,
separating and creating an
independent body to manage the
recovered assets by the EFCC is a
welcome development and has
long been overdue. It wouldn’t in
Godly. He had an uncommon
sense of humour."
Also, former Rivers State
Governor and Minister of
Transport, Rotimi Amaechi said
Karibi-Whyte, JSC was very
honest and sincere in his entire
professional and family life.
Chief Tonye-Cole said: ‘He
taught us about integrity. He gave
us a feel of what it meant to be in
the judiciary. He lifted us up and
taught us what it meant to defend
the integrity of the country.’
For former NBA President, Paul
Usoro, SAN: ‘You must be
exceptional for Nigeria to
recognise you. He was exceptional
as a judge and as a professor of
law. He made us feel proud.’
NBA President, Mr Olumide
Akpata said: ‘I consider myself
privileged to have known Karibi-
Whyte in his life, as I grew up with
his children.'
Ajumogobia SAN said:
‘Factories that produced his types
no longer exist.’ His son in-law,
former Attorney-General of Edo
State, Chief Charles Edosonwan,
SAN, in his tribute said: ‘It’s hard
any way destroy or hinder the
performance of the EFCC statutory
functions. Over the years, nobody
could give accurate figures of the
sum of money, assets- both tangible
and intangible- so far recovered by
the EFCC.
“We have seen and witnessed
how money and assets recovered
by the EFCC were again re-looted.
These are regular serious
allegations against the anti graft
body. There must be a way forward
to address this genuine concern.
My takes on this is that an
independent statutorily created
body, be set up to manage the
recovered asset, a body similar to
the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund
(PTF) created by the late General
Sanni Abacha and headed by the
present president, Muhammad
Buhari.
“At least, we all witnessed massive
infrastructural development
successfully executed by the PTF in
all the nook and crannies of our dear
country. I therefore, support the call
for the creation of Asset Recovery
Body to manage the loot recovered
provided there will be water tight
provision for transparency and
accountability in the new law setting
up same.”
Adenrele Adegborioye: “I
support the idea of creation of the
Assets Recovery body. This is
because when EFCC was created,
management of seized or recovered
assets was not put into
contemplation hence the
commission was not well prepared
to manage or handle assets
recovered as proceeds of crime. This
has resulted in the cases of
mismanagement of recovered assets
which on its own is a major problem.
Therefore it is my view that to enjoy
maximum benefits from the
activities of EFCC and other anti
corruption agencies there is the
need to set up a more specialised
body that will handle recovered
assets.
“This will not only give room for
transparency but the country will
have optimum benefits from anti
corruption activities and EFCC will
concentrate on dealing with
corruption matters and not bother
itself with management of recovered
assets. In my view it is not intended
to whittle down the powers of EFCC
but to make it more efficient and
productive.”
to deal with the loss of Justice
Adolphous Godwin Karibi-Whyte
for one wished he could have gone
on living forever. However, life is
such that none lives forever and
like all mortals, he had to go one
day, his day being 22nd May 2020.
He was 88 but his passing was
still a blow.
‘Married to Tonye his dear
darling daughter, just like all his
children, I called him “dad” to his
face or “The Old Boy” away from
him. Larger than life that he was
to the outside world, he wasn’t the
big man at home but a taciturn soft
spoken patriarch to his family
members; dad to us his children
and children in-law, and simply
“Adol” to mommy – Mrs Faith
Karibi-Whyte nee Bob-Manuel.
'Many others within the family
referred to him simply as “Uncle
Adol” which is far away from the
formal Judge (Justice, Dr, Sir,
Chief) Adolphous Karibi-Whyte
JSC and many other epaulettes
that announce him to the world as
a man of global acclaim with
uncommon achievements.'
C
M
Y
K