Nov 22, 2017: The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SEERAP has demanded that President Muhammadu Buhari exert his authority and curb what it described as the excesses of some security agencies.
Operatives of the Department of Security Service, DSS, and the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, prevented anti-graft detectives (EFCC) from arresting the former heads of the two agencies on Tuesday in Abuja.
The EFCC was at the home of Ita Ekpeyong and Ayodele Oke to apprehend them when their security orderlies stepped in to thwart the process, creating a day-long stand-off that nearly turned fatal.
Mr. Ekpeyong led the SSS from 2010 when President Goodluck Jonathan appointed him until 2015 when Mr. Buhari replaced him with Lawal Daura.
Mr. Oke was fired on October 30 as part of the fallout from the N13 billion cash haul which EFCC recovered from an apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos, in April.
SERAP said the action of the SSS and NIA operatives was deplorable and a mockery of both the anti-corruption drive of Mr. Buhari and the rule of law.
“Obstructing the work of anticorruption agencies is a text-book case of interference with the orderly administration of law and justice, which can send a particularly damaging message that the government may not be truly committed to the fight against corruption”, SERAP said in a Wednesday evening statement signed by its deputy director, Timothy Adewale.
The statement said Mr. Buhari should waste little time in taking decisive action that would send an unambiguous signal about where he stands on corruption matters.
“By moving speedily to stop this kind of behaviour by the SSS and NIA officials, Buhari would be making clear that under his watch, those accused of grand corruption would not be allowed to circumvent the law no matter their status in the society”, Mr. Adewale said.