The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been flayed for the failure to carry out its responsibility with civility and decorum in the case of the former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, as well as disobeying the rule of law.

Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), Debo Adeniran gave the condemnation while speaking with InsideNigeria on the sidelines of the protest by human rights group, which he led recently in Lagos.

While affirming that the EFCC, led by its Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, failed to use all available civilised means of handling the case of the former Kogi State governor, Adeniran added: “The EFCC officials should have used a more civilised way in their attempt to perform their responsibility. We do not say that they should not do their work, but they should do it with civility and according to the rule of law.”

Saying that the invasion of Bello’s house was a disobedience of the rule of law: Adeniran added: “The EFCC failed to obey the restraining order. There is no evidence that Yahaya Bello was formally invited to the EFCC before his house was barricaded.

“The existing order had to be vacated before issuing a warrant of arrest against the former Kogi State governor. We expected the anti-graft Commission to go to court to get a warrant of arrest, but the Commission did not do that.”

Adeniran, who lamented the ongoing disregard for the rule of law by the government, said: “The EFCC officials failed to do the right thing before attempting the arrest of Yahaya Bello as the court had restrained them from doing so. It is not right for the EFCC to disobey the court order. The Federal High Court would not have been able to vacate an existing injunction.”

While berating the EFCC for listing the names of the children and wards of Bello, as well as accusing the former governor before the media of taking $720,000 of Kogi money to pay his children’s school fees in advance at the American International School, Abuja, the CACOL boss: “Listing the names of the former governor’s children and his wards as a means of intimidating Bello is against the Child Right Act of the United Nations Charter of Children’s Protection Act.”

Adeniran noted that the act of exposing Bello’s children to the public through the media by the EFCC is tantamount to making them a public ridicule.

He lambasted the EFCC for trying to push the blame of the former governor’s action on the children, saying: “The EFCC tried to push the punishment of the parents on the children, exposing them to public ridicule. It is the wrong way to do things. Even if a person is an offender, he should be given the opportunity of trial.”

Recall that human rights activists, led by Adeniran, hit the streets of Lagos to condemn what they described as the EFCC’s antidemocratic approach to law enforcement, as well as unjust application of state power by the Federal Government.

The groups, numbering over 120, said the actions of the government in the ongoing face-off between EFCC and Bello, which took an ugly dimension during the week, suggested that the bone of contention was beyond the anti-graft agency exercising its constitutional responsibility.

According to them, from the facts and documents obtained on the matter, the EFCC never sent a letter of invitation to former Governor Bello.

“Someone who was never invited, who has a valid court order restraining his arrest and harassment, among other reliefs, until the determination of the court case, could not be said to be evading arrest. It is deliberate misinformation to turn the public against the governor,” they said.

While specifically condemning the military action threat by an EFCC lawyer, the anti-corruption activists and human rights crusaders, said: “Issuing such a threat before a judge and inside a court was a violation of the sanctity of the courtroom.”

Adeniran lamented the ongoing disregard for the rule of law was not only about Yahaya Bello.

“We don’t know who the next victim will be,” he said.

“If the FG continues in its iniquitous way of trampling on the rule of law by undermining our judicial system, we will mobilise a much larger number of Nigerians to join this pro-democracy struggle. It concerns all Nigerians because we don’t know who the next victim may be,” Adeniran said.

He called on the government to first obey all the court orders preceding their own actions in court and then go ahead to vacate them through due processes of law.

“There is no point in endangering anyone’s life unnecessarily because that’s the situation we believe that Yahaya Bello is in now. If the government doesn’t handle this matter carefully, it may shoot itself in the foot and put all Nigerians in collective injury,” the activist said.

The activists warned that the government should not instigate anarchy, insisting that democracy is governed by the rule of law and not the rule of force.

They pointed out that some of them had been in the trenches for over four decades without compromising their stand on justice.

Those at the gathering included Adeniran, Executive Chairman, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership CACOL); Sina Loremikan, (Campaign Against Impunity); Declan Ihekhaire, (Activists for Good Governance); Gbenga Soloki, CADOV; Ochiaga Ohaneze, (Ohaneze Youth Council); Funmi Jolade, (Women Democratic Vanguard); Kola Abe, (Centre for Socioeconomic Rights); Ologun Ayodeji, (Transparency and Accountability Group); Femi Lawson, (Centre for Public Accountability) and Gbenga Ganzallo (Media Rights Campaign), among others.