Why EFCC Should Get More Serious, By Opeyemi Oguntoye
In 1984, the war against deadly drug lords from Mexico and Colombia grew rapidly when a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent, Enrique Camarena worked as an informant to the government and got very close to most of the Mexican drug lords.
The information given necessitated the raid on Guadalajara Cartel Marijuana plantation. Felix Gallardo was angered because of DEA betrayal and his arrest was ordered. The US government took it upon herself that five years later, Felix Gallardo was sent to prison.
Two most dangerous drug lords in the world, Joaquin El Chapo and Pablo Escobar were arrested, killed in either case after thorough investigation, dedication and sacrifice by the combined efforts of the DEA, Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), CIA agents. One thing that is common about hardened criminal is the fact that they hardly show mercy and have less regard for lives. They kill, destroy and demolish anything that comes against their ambition. If you make any attempt to hinder them, they will crush you, and are always ready to bribe any official to get their agenda fulfilled.
Most of the tactics use depend on the level of poverty in that particular society; they torture those who do not believed in enriching themselves. They select family member to attack, which will force the individual to buy into their agenda. They are ruthless and determined.
In a Popular American TV series, Power, Angela Valdes, a character and one of the lead prosecutor and DEA agent responded to the conversation on how to arrest the notorious drug dealer, who is yet unknown. Carlos Ruiz, another character is still untouchable because they haven’t gotten enough evidence to nail him. Angela said “If we can build a compelling case against him, we can put him behind bars” and her boss responded, “We can’t touch him, unless we know we can put him in jail”.
The actual fact is in my first and second paragraphs, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has been everywhere in Nigeria. They can’t kill, so they find it difficult to build concrete evidence against all those they have brought to the Nigeria court. Frankly, justice can’t be given when Nigerians think a man steals or kill. We need to do more; convince a competent court of law to get justice. Also, due diligence and sacrifice should be made in other to get justice, even when we know that an alleged criminal can’t be denied his right to legal representation. Abdulmutalab the kid that wanted to bomb an American plane had an Attorney that defended him. He deserved it. It is now left for the Lawyer to build up a convincing case to the judge or jury.
Steve Murphy nearly had a total breakdown with his family because of his obsession to capture Pablo Escobar. His counterpart, Javier Pena nearly gave up at a point because he noticed something strange about his partner behavior, the investigation lasted for years. They both had to relocate to Colombia in other to do proper clampdown on the drug Lords littering the cities of United States with hard drugs. EFCC, after two days will rush to court, and they will expect to be given ‘favourable’ judgment.
It was easier for the United Kingdom authority to sentence James Ibori to prison because the prosecutor did a diligent job to convict one of the greatest thieves in South-South Nigeria. Nigerians want to make money and become millionaire in a day, we don’t care how it happens and we have lost our patience.
Journalists who have prominent roles to play in this anti-corruption battle are not doing enough. A friend once said, “if it isn’t investigative, then it is not journalism”. We all wake up and consume breaking news from some news outlet and consume it, hook line and sinker. Nobody takes time to investigate the source of the news or the authenticity of such.
Recently, a popular hip hop artist took time to attack all ‘lazy politicians for their un-seriousness and ineptitude’. Another one praised the “Yahoo” boys from the beginning of the song to the end. My observation isn’t about his song but the name 9ice mentioned in his track, all of them are youth which till today, nobody can explain how they all become billionaire. EFCC can’t do the work neither can our journalist unravel the source of their wealth.
If we can’t go to any length to unravel all the mystery we are surrounded with, then the people should not shout down the judiciary for ‘unfavourable’ judgment. Today, the world has condemned the alleged Russia infiltration, meddling with USA last general election. Some even went to the extent of abusing and disliking Donald Trump for the role he also played in the last election but none can take him to court because they had less evidence to put him behind bar nor get judgment from court of law. Even former FBI director, James Comey tried hard to explain his suspicions, findings and level of tampering by the Russia government but none has built up to nail the President of the United States of America.
If EFCC want to give judgment on the pages of newspaper, we will do that but none will translate to court conviction because we can’t spoon-feed such organisation. IfFBI, CIA and DEA are losing court cases as our EFCC it will be a big slap on all the agencies but it seems we don’t even care again.
Isn’t it a shame that Nigeria, her anti-corruption agencies, lawyers and journalists can’t unravel the level of corruption against Diezani Madueke and James Ibori? Neither can they build up a solid case until foreign countries stepped in to convict them. We can’t continue to put our country in bad light because of corruption and ineptitude of all agencies involved to resolve the greed and false accumulation of wealth.
Let EFCC take time to build their case, let journalists assist in investigative journalism to get rid of our society from scammers, thieves and drug Lords.
