The thoroughness and strictness of the Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) in discharging their duties has drawn lots of commendation and criticism as well, regardless that the commission created in 2003 has tried to keep operating at a commendable height far above what is obtainable from the Nigerian Police force and other law enforcement agencies in the nation and is in the process of perfecting its units of operation and modus operandi.
Commendations for the diligent efforts of the Commission
commendations for the efforts of the commission has been very high because the commission leaves no stone unturned in their investigation process, they take their time to search for the incriminating angle in the transactions or deals that was petitioned to them, which they extend to the search of the possible number of conspirators and the connecting thread that links them all to the crime, their intention is always to bust the entire syndicate involved and every personnel complicit in any crime and this coupled with the semi analogue system that Nigerian administrative process is still locked in has required them keeping people in their detention facility longer and sometimes beyond the time required by law.
Criticisms their meticulousness has attracted and the scam it’s fueling under their nose
There have been reasonable number of critics against the commission in the sense that there is a specific time frame required by law to keep a suspect in detention before taking him or her to court for the judicial process to commence in determining their fate if guilty or innocent of the crime accused, and for a commission known to be handling sensitive financial cases perpetrated in sophisticated manners ,the commission is perceived to be prone to always go to court to request for permission to keep suspects longer in their detention and this creates an anxiety and frenzy for inmates at their detention facilities to struggle for any possible means of regaining their freedom and this has fashioned an avenue for some scammers in the name of bail agents to scam detainees at the EFCC detention facility by playing along their clients desperation for their delayed call for freedom to perpetrate their silent scam.
EFCC-at-work
The hunt for Izuchukwu Odili and his cohorts in the Scam Syndicate
A former detainee of Okotie eboh detention facility of EFCC in Ikoyi Lagos State has fingered one Izuchukwu Odili C.E.O of Vivid Concept and Crystal Imagination limited all in Abuja of scamming him of the sum of Two hundred thousand naira. While in detention Mr. Iwuoha reached out to his friends to assist him with a lawyer or any means of meeting his stringent bail conditions in order to leave the detention on administrative bail since it was taking time for the commission to finish their investigation in order to charge him to court or acquit him from the petition.
the Imo State born Abuja Government contract hunter told one of Iwuoha’s contact that he knows a certain GO who he claims is the head of the legal dept of the Abuja office of the EFCC and that the GO has looked into the issue and needs the sum of Two Hundred Thousand Naira to facilitate and speed up Iwuoha’s administrative process which he claimed the GO (name withheld) can do with just a call to his colleagues, Mr. Iwuoha requested for Izuchukwu Odili’s number who had already been linked to Iwuoha cousin who effected the transfer of the said sum installmentally to him, the recipient and the paying account information has been tendered as exhibits alongside recorded conversations that were made available as well.
Mr. Iwuoha also called him from detention after waiting for days and having not met any sureties for his bail during one of the occasions that he was granted permission to make call which he has indicated the time and day of the said call which is an information that the commission can also corroborate through the communication network that they used in the communication, while on the said call Izuchukwu Odili told him that 3 sureties had come to the Office but one came without his certificate and qualifications while other two didn’t meet the grade required.
Iwuoha asked his Investigating Officer if anyone had come to inquire for his bail or submitted any documents which he got a negative answer to, he told his cousin to clarify issues with Izuchukwu Odili who then switched off his pone and weeks later put it on and refused responding to calls from Iwuoha and his family members.
EFCC Bows to no outside pressure against following their laid down procedure.
Iwuoha luckily has been granted bail since November 19th 2019 and has commenced the manhunt for Izuchukwu Odili who is still in Abuja but hiding from the people that connected him to Iwuoha and has refused responding to his calls and messages, Iwuoha was swift in decoding the scam strategy of Izuchukwu Odili because the EFCC officers always warn them against playing along with people that will promise them of paying money for swift release and bla bla, because the commission must go through its rigorous process on every case before getting to the decision of granting the suspect bail or charging him or her to court and no amount of power play or persuasion will get the commission to act other wise because this is their laid down procedure.
Now Iwuoha is leading the manhunt to recover his funds from Mr. Izuchukwu Odili and also going public with the issue in order to sensitize other people in EFCC detention not to fall for the scam as him and a lot of detainees has already experienced the fraud and exchanges sorrowful stories in the cell on how some heartless Nigerians including some lawyers are defrauding people in detention in the guise of helping to fasten their release.
