The acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, has reiterated the agency’s commitment to respect for human rights in its constitutional mandate of waging war against corruption, saying the effort is not targeted at any particular individual or group of people.
Magu stated this in Ibadan on Wednesday, while featuring as a discussant at the Human Rights Stakeholders’ Summit of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, Oyo State branch.
He was represented at the event by the Head of EFCC’s Ibadan zonal office, Friday Ebelo.
According to him, the anti-graft agency always does its best in handling its suspects with dignity and respect to avoid infringing on their rights.
“There is nothing like ‘We Against Them’ in our effort to rid our nation of economic and financial crimes. We take issues of human rights seriously and we always do our best to respect the legitimate rights of our suspects,” he said.
Themed ‘The State of Human Right in Oyo State’, the maiden summit sought to take a holistic look at the state of citizens’ rights in the state as it brought together critical stakeholders to discuss issues around them.
While giving his keynote address, the head of the Department of Communication and Language Arts, University of Ibadan, Prof. Ayobami Ojebode, described human rights as those rights every individual is entitled to for the fact of being human.
He challenged every citizen to be part of human rights protection as ‘protecting the human rights of citizens if far more than what only the government can do’.
The Oyo State coordinator of the NHRC, Mrs. Oyindamola Bamgbose, while delivering the address of the Executive Secretary of the Commission, noted that the summit was part of the efforts to give prompt attention to problems of human rights violations as they arise.
In a different twist, the commission also said it has secured the conviction of one Adedapo John Adeagbo before Justice Patricia Ajoku of the Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan.
Adeagbo, who bagged eight months imprisonment, had earlier been arraigned on a four-count charge of obtaining money under false pretences.
He later approached the Commission for a plea and sentence bargain which informed his re-arraignment on Wednesday on a one-count amended charge bordering on fraudulent impersonation.
The charge is contrary to Section 22 (2) and punishable under Section 22 (4) (b) (i) of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention Etc) Act, 2015.
He pleaded guilty to the lone-count charge when read to him.
Prosecuting counsel, Chidi Okoli, thereafter, prayed the court to convict the defendant accordingly.
While convicting him of the offence, the presiding judge equally issued an order that he restitutes to his victim the sum of $450 USD (Four Hundred and Fifty United States of American Dollars) only through the Commission.
He is also to forfeit to the Federal Government of Nigeria his iphone6 mobile phone being the instrument used in committing the crime.
