Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka has condemned the method adopted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in getting the attention of a former minister of power and steel Olu Agunloye.
On December 12, Mr Agunloye was declared wanted by the anti-graft agency over alleged fraud. He is facing questions about his role in the $6 billion Mambila hydropower contract.
Agunloye, a former boss of the Federal Road Safety Corps, reported to the EFCC on December 13 and has been detained since then.
In a statement on Monday, Soyinka asked the EFCC to release all its detainees or, in the alternative, equally arrest and detain all those involved in “this mammoth scam” of the Mambilla power project.
He wrote: “…The immediate provocation for these reflections is ongoing predicament of a former Minister of Power, Dr. Olu Agunloye, currently detained by the EFCC, in total contempt of sense and justice, or indeed, basic humane considerations.
“We shall not go into the merit or demerits of the charges raised against him over a 16-year-old project that bears the name Manbilla. – that is the business of the law courts. Our concern at this moment is however only partially on the basis of individual Fundamental Human Rights.
“Most fortuitously, the detention of any former public servant under circumstances such as Agunloye also provoke the question: how is public interest – such as the pursuit of justice – served by such arbitrary exercise of power?”
He also said, “The resort to ‘Trial or Smear by Media’ of the most sensationalist kind, launched against the person of Dr. Olu Agunloye is unworthy and reprehensible. Most critically – and I want both governance and citizenry to understand this – it is counterproductive. It inhibits genuine inclination by proficient citizens for public service. That is a lamentable obstacle on the way to any nation’s development. WANTED??? Just what is that?
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Former minister Olu Agunloye in EFCC custody – Ex-diplomat
“Olu Agunloye has pursued his movements openly to the extent of being present and photographed at my sister’s funeral on December 8. He did not appear in disguise, did not sneak in and out. He functioned as any normal human being at an event at which the Press was present. Less than than thirty-six hours later, he was declared WANTED: If that was an EFCC joke, it was in extremely bad taste, obviously designed for Social Media sensationalism, not for any serious crime-solving commitment.
“Nonetheless, Agunloye, as a dutiful citizen, issued a statement on his visibility and ready compliance. He promised to show up at the EFCC offices in Abuja the following day. He appeared, was promptly arrested and detained. The information I have been able to obtain during the past two days of my return to the country is that the Head of the EFCC declared that he would release him only on the instructions of the President of the Nation. True or false? I am not in the game of ‘He said, I said’.
“What matters is the murky exercise of power. I have had cause to intervene before this, all the way from Are, through Ribadu and Magu, that last until he stopped taking my calls. The present however transcends all other interventions, as it involves certain issues of national interest, in tandem with the evident issues of fundamental citizen right.
“In the meantime, the EFCC should release all its prisoners or, in the alternative, equally arrest and detain ALL those involved in this mammoth SCAM that has deprived the “GIANT OF AFRICA” the basic survival facility for a twenty-first-century society.
“One chicken in the coop is a travesty of justice and a deplorable lack of nerve. Release Agunloye, or detain all those directly or indirectly implicated in that fiasco. The preening and posturing of EFCC has served its purpose, it is time to now divert it to a productive end – bringing closure on the one hand, and also opening up new channels of productive fulfilment for a stressed and distressed nation.”
