Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, yesterday insisted that Senator Iyiola Omisore, who was declared wanted by the commission on Tuesday, cannot escape for too long the arrest by its operatives no matter the ploy devised by the politician. Magu spoke exclusively to National Mirror at the Eagles Square, Abuja, where an anti-corruption sensitization was carried out for youths and other categories of people in the country.
The anti-graft boss dismissed allegations by Omisore that the commission was playing persecution script against him. “There is no persecution. We will get him anyway. Why is he running away? If he thinks he is innocent, he should come to the office. He should report himself,” Magu said. Asked what strategies the commission has in place should the former deputy governor continue to refuse to honour invitation by the anti-graft agency, tough-talking Magu said: “We will get him. We are everywhere. We will get him anywhere he goes.” On the EFCC’s strategies, Magu explained that, “We (EFCC) don’t prosecute innocent people; there is no issue of persecution here at all. If you see impunity, what has been done (by these people), you will cry; you will shed tears.”
He said though corruption had eaten deep into the fabrics of the nation, victory over the menace is possible if there is collective will by all people in the country to end the tide. He said the commission has been able to secure over 150 convictions since May 29 last year, when the Muhammadu Buhari administration came into power, stressing that corrupt people who plundered the nation’s wealth “are just about one percent of Nigerians. They are even less than one percent.” Indeed, before being declared wanted, the commission was said to have written a letter of invitation to Omisore to report for interrogation.
EFCC’s letter of invitation, signed by Abubakar Madaki, on behalf of the Acting Chairman of commission, reads: “The commission is investigating an alleged case in which your name featured prominently. In view of the above, you are requested to interview the undersigned on Monday, April 11, at 30, Harper Crescent, Wuse Zone 7, at 10a.m. Your cooperation in this regard is solicited.” Responding, Omisore contacted one of his lawyers, Wole Jimi-Bada and Co., who wrote on his behalf to the commission that the interview be rescheduled. The letter reads: “Your letter dated April 7, addressed to our client and delivered to his security at our client’s residence has been passed on to our chambers. We regret to inform you that our client travelled briefly out of Abuja, but will return by Wednesday evening accordingly. “Consequently, he will not be able to attend the interview schedule as requested in your letter under reference. On his behalf, we humbly request that the interview be rescheduled for April 14, for him to honour your invitation. We regret any inconvenience this request may cause you.”
Subsequently, the former senator approached a High Court in Abuja seeking to enforce his fundamental human rights by preventing his arrest. He told the court that the commission’s invitation was a ploy to detain him. Omisore said he got interim injunction restraining the commission and its agents from arresting him. However, while filing a counter-affidavit as well as a preliminary objection to the suit instituted by Omisore before the High Court in Abuja, the EFCC told the court that its action is within the ambit of its law. The case was “given short adjournment.”
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It would be recalled that some top Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been remanded by the commission upon similar invitation. Some of them are the party’s spokesperson, Olisa Metuh; the party’s former Acting Chairman, Uche Secondus; while former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and Director of Publicity of the re-election campaign organization of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Femi Fani-Kayode, are currently cooling their heels in the commission’s custody or detention.
While declaring Omisore, the former Osun State gubernatorial candidate on the platform of PDP wanted through an advert in a national newspaper last Tuesday, with his picture splashed on the paper, the commission said: “The public is hereby notified that Iyiola Ajani Omisore, whose photograph appears above, is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in connection with a case of receiving and misappropriating the sum of over N700 million between June – November 2014 from the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA). He has refused to make himself available to the commission for clarifications in the investigations since invitation via a letter dated 7th April, 2016.”
But, in a swift reaction, Omisore slammed the commission, saying there was no way he could have been described as being on the run. According to a statement he made available to journalists, Omisore said he was in court with the EFCC the day he was declared wanted. He accused the commission of playing persecution script against him. Part of his statement said: “I read the statement issued by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) purportedly declaring me wanted as an attempt by that organization and its leadership to tarnish my image.
That statement, if indeed it was issued by the EFCC, is the height of mischief and a deliberate attempt to assassinate my character. It is now very clear that the EFCC is, indeed, playing out the script of persecuting and harassing perceived opposition groups in the country. “To be sure, there is no basis for the EFCC’s so-called statement. Only on Tuesday, May 24, we appeared in court with the EFCC, asking for permission of the court for an extension of time in the preliminary objection to a suit filed against me. The Managing Director of Firmex Gill, which the EFCC joined in their case, indemnified me from the company’s contracts and any such obligations. “In other words, there is nothing related to me in the company’s contract deal with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
The company has even sued ONSA for its inability to pay the balance of the contract so awarded to it.” Beyond his statement to journalists, the former senator has directed his legal team, led by Chief Chris Uche (SAN) to issue a letter seeking retraction by the EFCC of his declaration as being wanted. The letter was delivered at the commission’s office on Wednesday and acknowledged by the EFCC. The commission was given seven days to retract the declaration and also pay damages of N500 million, failure of which the politician threatened to proceed with civil action against the commission and its spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, and demand higher damages.
However, sources had said the former deputy governor’s name was among the 241 contractors who won contracts at the office of the NSA in 2014. His company was also alleged to have failed to justify the amount given by ex-NSA for the level of work it did. It would also be recalled that Omisore is standing trial for breach of public office and money laundering in three separate courts in Abuja.
Part of a publication regarding the politician in a national newspaper yesterday by National President, National Committee of Yoruba Youths, NCYY, Dr. Oladimeji Odeyemi, challenging the EFCC’s action reads: “The website of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) popped up with information credited to the EFCC that Senator Iyiola Omisore, a distinguished former Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and former Deputy Governor of Osun State has been declared wanted. “The statement credited to the EFCC is in all its ramifications ridiculous, ludicrous and unwarranted. It is a deliberate design to taint the personality of the distinguished Senator with calculated lies arising from deliberately concocted and carefully disseminated, but embarrassingly glaring falsehood. “It is a notorious fact that following the threat of arrest and indefinite detention of the distinguished Senator, he approached the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, in suit no FCT/HC/CV/145/16 for the enforcement of his fundamental rights to liberty and human dignity sequel to which the honourable court granted orders of injunction in his favour to prevent the planned threats of the EFCC.”
