The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Makurdi Branch, is demanding the immediate investigation and prosecution of the Zonal Head of the EFCC Makurdi, Mr. Kazeem Oseni and all the operatives involved in the dastardly act of brutality against the NBA Chairman Makurdi Branch.
The Vice-Chairman, NBA Makurdi Branch, Barr. Hemba Basil, stated this on Friday while briefing journalists in Makurdi.
They said the prosecution of those involved will serve as a deterrent to other bad eggs in the commission who unleash terror and venomous impunity on innocent citizens, bearing in mind that, nobody is above the law.
Speaking at the association’s secretariat in Makurdi, the Vice Chairman recalled that “on the 9th of June, 2021 in the early hours of that day, the Chairman of the NBA Makurdi Branch, Justin Gbagir, Esq, made a post on facebook and other social media platforms chronicling the event of the previous night wherein he was thoroughly assaulted and battered by officers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Makurdi Zonal Office right inside the office of the Zonal Head of the Commission Mr. Kazeem Oseni, in the presence of The Honourable the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Benue State (AG), Michael Gusa, Esq, the Permanent Secretary/Solicitor General(PS/SG) of Benue State, Chief Simon Egede, Esq (MON), the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Peter Ukande, Esq and the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Benue State on Legal Matters, E.Z Agbakor, Esq, while the Zonal Head of the Commission nodded with mischievous and ecstatic approval.”
He lamented that consequent upon the barbaric act by the EFCC officers, the Chairman was admitted at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH), Makurdi, following the brutality.
He was treated and discharged the following day, June 9, 2021 with an appointment to revisit the hospital on the 11th June, 2021 for further examination.
He, however, explained that while the NBA Makurdi Branch convened an emergency meeting on June 9, 2021 to take a decisive action against the brazen act of the EFCC, they were informed that the National President of the NBA was in close talks with the EFCC Chairman, who undertook to carry out an immediate investigation into the matter with a plea to the NBA National President to appeal to the Makurdi Branch to stay further action on the matter pending the investigation.
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“Upon receiving this information, the NBA Makurdi Branch, though highly agitated with the incident reluctantly acceded to the request of the EFCC Chairman especially as the Chairman gave all assurances that at the end of his investigation, all the officers found to be culpable in the matter will be made to face the law.”
The NBA said they were therefore surprised that the Commission later that same day, issued a press statement through its Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, wherein the Commission not only denied the unprovoked and reckless assault on the Chairman NBA Makurdi Branch but went ahead to call the Chairman unprintable names and also referred to members of the Legal Profession, who were in the company of the Chairman as thugs.
He said the NBA view the commitment of the EFCC Chairman to get to the root of the matter as a mere subterfuge designed to allow the commission to put more insult to injury.
The NBA posited that the conduct of the EFCC, by going to the press on the matter while they made the NBA stay action on the ugly incident expecting a communication from the EFCC Chairman on his findings on the matter is devoid of good faith and administrative decorum, which should not be associated with an agency of the Government such as the EFCC which prides itself as the eagle eye and watch dog of the society.
They further emphasized that the press statement was not only a tissue of lies and fabrications but was riddled with indecent language which should not come from a trained and competent image maker of an agency of the Federal Government.
While insisting that the EFCC lied about the assault on their Chairman, Makurdi NBA said by the above outing, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren has presented himself to Nigerians as a misfit in the office he occupies.
Hemba said “it has long been abandoned in the Stone Age when society was in its crude and abhorrent stage where members took to their arms against each other without a sovereign to adjudicate over their dispute.
“We take very serious exception to the denigration of the legal profession by the EFCC and further contend that, this is one attack too many by the commission on Legal Practitioners and all attempts to stem their excesses will be vehemently and strongly resisted using all civil and legal means at our disposal.”
