By Kamil Opeyemi
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday said it has reviewed its arrest and bail procedures.
According to the commission, who got a new Chairman last week, the move aims to ensure that the agency’s procedure and in line with “the rule of law and international best practices in the treatment of suspects,” a statement by the commission said Wednesday.
According to the statement signed by the spokesperson for the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, the new procedure “was rolled out on Monday, 31 October 2023 across all its commands”.
EFCC has often been criticised for carrying out its operations without regard for suspects’ rights. In some cases, the commission was accused of bursting into peoples’s homes with no warrants.
Operatives of the agency incessantly barged into homes and hotel rooms of Nigerians in their bid to arrest suspected cybercrime suspects. There were occasions when the agency was accused of defying court orders to arrest suspects, and of keeping suspects in custody beyond the lawful period.
Some have also accused the officials of the agency of arbitrarily exercising their powers to freeze suspects’ bank accounts and deprive them of use of other forms of assets in the name of ongoing investigations.
Some of these arbitrary conducts of the agency and its officials had earned it damages in millions of naira. Oyewale’s statement said that the EFCC said, “premium attention is focused on the rights of suspects, especially where arrest, detention and bail issues are concerned.”
“Operational activities are to be tailored towards relevant provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999( as amended), the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2011, and the EFCC’s Standard Operating Procedures, SOP,” the statement added.