Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Mike Ozekhome has advised the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to stop the alleged “media trial” of former Kogi State governor Yahaya Bello following his reported visit to the anti-graft agency’s facility on Wednesday, September 20, 2024.
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In a statement, Ozekhome maintained that the EFCC’s claim of still looking for Bello with a view to arraigning him next Thursday, despite his reported visit, is “sensational” and “unprofessional.”
The EFCC had earlier stated that media reports claiming Bello was in their holding facility were incorrect and that the former governor remains “wanted” over an N80.2 billion fraud case against him. However, Bello’s media office stated that he had visited the EFCC amid the fraud case.
Ozekhome noted that it was widely reported that Bello, accompanied by his successor, Governor Usman Ododo, submitted himself to the EFCC headquarters and waited to be interviewed. He advised the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, to investigate his officers immediately over the incident and hold them accountable for allegedly embarrassing the commission.
The senior lawyer also urged Yahaya Bello to go to court and defend himself against the allegations, whether they were malicious, false, or well-founded. However, he warned against media trials by security agencies, regardless of the alleged offences they are prosecuting.
“The EFCC should allow Bello to have his day in court like other Nigerian citizens, under a conducive atmosphere devoid of media trials, harassment, and intimidation, to ensure a fair trial,” Ozekhome said. He emphasized that the Nigerian criminal justice system follows the accusatorial Anglo-Saxon model, where a citizen’s innocence is presumed, as opposed to the inquisitorial French model, where guilt is presumed.
Ozekhome further stated that media trials violently detract from fair trial principles, as they tarnish an otherwise innocent accused person with an already guilty paintbrush of shame, odium, obloquy, derision, and dehumanization even before they have been arraigned, tried, and found guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction.
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