The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council (ONYC) and the Yoruba Youth Council (YYC) have lamented the constant breach of court orders in the country, calling on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to respect the subsisting court order and ensure that democratic tenets are not jeopardised with respect to the planned arrest of former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello.
The EFCC had a few days ago made an attempt to arrest the governor and thereafter declared him wanted, which prompted Bello’s media handlers to say the commission was acting against an order of the Kogi State High Court that granted an injunction against the EFCC’s action.
In separate statements made available to journalists yesterday in Kaduna, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, Chimaobi Ezejiofor and the President of the Yoruba Youth Council, Comrade Eric Oluwole, wondered why the EFCC could not wait to exhaust the legal opportunities before clamping down on Bello.
Ezejiofor said government agencies should be at the forefront of respect to the rule of law, stressing that, “having submitted itself to the courts by filing an appeal as well a stay of execution, one had expected that the EFCC should respect the res, but in this case it chose to take laws into its hands.”
On its part, the Yoruba youths said: “EFCC must not jeopardise Nigeria’s hard-earned democracy in its attempt to arrest Bello over allegations of money laundry.”
The group added that drafting the military to resolve civil, criminal or whatever cases between Nigerians and government agencies in a democracy would be sending wrong signals about the nation’s commitment to the rule of law as applied in a democracy.
It cautioned the agency against taking laws into its own hand in a case that is already in court, awaiting determination; adding that whatever the circumstances, the EFCC or any other government agency should never be tempted to involve the military in effecting the arrest of Nigerians under whatever guise, more so in a democracy.
The groups urged the commission to respect the sanctity of the courts by allowing the Appeal Court to determine the case.
