THE Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, has condemned, in strong terms, the alleged recurring persecution and harassment of persons from the South-South geopolitical zone by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), over alleged cases of corruption.
PANDEF, in a statement, by its National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Ken Robinson, noted that the continued “media trial” and persecution of former public office holders, particularly from the South-South zone and other parts of Southern Nigeria, by the anti-graft agency, “is not only unethical but despicable and irksome.”
It urged the anti-graft body to stop the egregious practice stressing, “according to our laws, an accused is “innocent until proven guilty” by a competent court of law.”
The statement reads “PANDEF as a responsible organization would not condone corruption in any way but it is the flagrancy and snobbery with which the EFCC carries out its operations that is upsetting. The EFCC has continued to conduct its operations in a manner that depicts complete disrespect for the rule of law and fundamental human rights of citizens, as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“More disturbing is the selectiveness of its operations; from 2016 to date, under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, not less than 30 high profile persons from the South-South geopolitical zone have been harassed, persecuted and prosecuted, mostly, in the “court of public opinion”, rather than procedural prosecution in competent courts of law.
Our people have continued to be maligned and denigrated by the EFCC and other state agencies; some have been hassled to death. These issues are well documented in the public sphere. Let EFCC stop persecuting our people!
“The case of retired Lieutenant General Kenneth Minimah, a former Chief of Army Staff, is one of the most preposterous. The periodic resurgence of so-called charges against Minimah and two other serving senior Army officers, in the media, since 2016, further substantiates concerns in the region that there is a determined schedule by antagonists of the South-South geopolitical zone and indeed the Niger Delta region; to humiliate and discredit prominent persons from the region, to erode the zone of credible leadership.
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