By Ayo Kehinde
Senator Sani
A layer, Pelumi Olajengbesi, and Convener of Coalition of Public Interest Lawyers & Advocates, COPA, has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of going beyond their brief to illegally obtain information from Senator Shehu Sani.
Senator Shehu Sani, is undergoing grilling by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission following an accusation by the Chairman of ASD Motors, Alhaji Sani Dauda, that Sani collected $30,000 from him to bribe the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, over an impending probe of his company.
Olajengbesi in a statement said that the anti-graft agency is carrying out “desperate actions … to indict Senator Shehu Sani on phantom charges after failing to find substance in their first spurious claims of misrepresentation and obtaining money by false pretence levied against him.”
He said the Commission has “obtained, accessed and seized Senator Sani’s phone without his consent thus going beyond their mandate and abusing his right to privacy. Specifically, checking all WhatsApp correspondence which have nothing to do with the allegations, in this technology age, one hopes that materials will not be planted in his phone to hand his oppressors ammunition to silence him once for all.
“The search through his phone, for the record, is NOT to find matters related to the allegations against him but a goose chase to find any incriminating matter to give impetus to the witch-hunt against the Senator who’s tireless criticism of the Buhari administration and that of his state’s government have made him a marked man.
Senator Shehu Sani’s bail bond which grants him administrative leave and freedom have also been consequently abused by the agency- the EFCC, which granted it and is an ominous portend of the break from the rule of law that may further attend his case.
“We are abreast of available details of the invitation, arrest and detention of Senator Shehu Sani by the graft agency for allegedly obtaining a bribe under false pretence and with intention to exert influence on the EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, to stave off ongoing investigation of a friend of the Senator.
While expressing its support for the anti-corruption drive of the EFCC the coalition urged the Commission to do so on the basis of “verifiable facts”, so as not to give the impression that perceived enemies of state are been hunted down by commission.
“COPA advises the EFCC to act impartially and by the law at all times. It is our hope as a group that a thorough and non-vindictive investigation would be undertaken in the Senator Shehu Sani, and indeed in all matters before the EFCC, with a view to serving the law and not servicing the ego or private wars of political figures in government. “
