3 sins committed by EFCC boss Olukoyede after his media outburst against Yahaya Bello

Daniel Bwala, a legal practitioner and former member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reacted to the press conference organized by the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede on the pending arrest of the embattled governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.

Bwala in an interview on Arise TV monitored on MyNigeria criticised the briefing by the antigraft agency with selected editors held in Abuja on Tuesday, April 23.

According to him, the approach adopted by the agency played into the hands of Bello who had been on a media campaign accusing the agency of attempting to persecute and not prosecute him.

He identified three issues that might complicate the cases in court.

Below is a transcription of Bwala's interview on Arise TV

"Just when we thought the drama that ensued when they arrested him was not embarrassing enough. We had another one yesterday. What happened yesterday was like a prosecutor in court doing the opening address in view of prosecuting the matter, and who is the judge, yesterday it was the pressmen."

"That same privilege, Yahyaya Bello doesn't have and you can call it a complete trial by the media. This is one of the many reasons why people ask the question, is the commission intending to prosecute or they are giving the opportunity indirectly for the accused to escape because this same thing is like it has always been playing in EFCC's approach to prosecution which has led to so many cases going out of hand."

"Like for example, if you give a forensic analysis of what he said in the press yesterday, a right-thinking member of society will say this was a planned script to give Yahaya Bello and escape route. Why did I say that?"

1 "The trial in Nigeria is a trial not by jury even a trial by jury is not a trial by the media."

2. "Having submitted a charge to court with the evidence that he has been granted order substitution and he has served Yahaya Bello through his counsel and he has submitted to the jurisdiction of the court, what there any need to hold a meeting and begin to argue the substance of the charge?"

3. "Some of the things he said yesterday have created more doubts and fed into the allegation of Yahaya Bello that he will not seek justice because it was persecution."

"Otherwise, let me tell you one of two things Mr Abati. In the press yesterday, he said he accorded a special privilege and respect to Yahaya Bello. That same privilege was not given to Bobrisky, that same privilege was not given to others that he called him."

"The procedure in EFCC is, except if they change it, they will write to you so they will be that evidence that you were invited because it falls in the fulcrum of the commencement of a trial that the accused must have been invited for an investigation. He even said yesterday that we don't need to take his statement to charge him. That means you have already done what you needed to do. So, why is the insistence to arrest him?"

"And when you open your mouth before the press and tell them that you said he will come through the back and I will ensure the operatives will come to my office, you are trying to say that as chairman, you can breach protocol and procedure that you set."

"Does everybody that you invite in that commission get the same privilege?"