By Christopher Oji
The Nigerian Bar Association Section on Public Interest and Development Law (NBA-SPIDEL) said it is alarmed at the declaration of the Inspector- General of Police (IGP), Mr. Usman Alkali Baba that Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) needed the collaboration of all Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIGS) and Commissioners of Police (CPs) in the 36 States of the Federation in its debt recovery drive.
The IGP made this strange declaration recently in his office in Abuja when the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of AMCON, Mr. Ahmed Lawan Kuru, paid him a courtesy visit. He had advised AMCON officials that all they needed was just a letter, and the police would swing into action in arresting those who are indebted to AMCON.
According to Chairman, NBA- SPIDEL, Mr Monday .O. Ubani:” This statement from the IGP portends grave danger as it portrays the mindset of the police chief that is in-charge of security of lives and properties in a democratic Nigeria.
“On several occasions, the security agencies have been warned especially by the Supreme Court from intermeddling into matters that are purely civil and without any criminal ingredients.
“AMCON was established to take over bad debts from the banks and to pursue recovery of such debt from the banks’ debtors. It is a commercial and contractual relationship that entails only civil proceedings to recover same.
“Shockingly, the security agencies have assigned themselves the illegal and unenviable role of debt recovery for individuals and corporate bodies, an act the IGP seems to be canvassing in his speech to the AMCON officials.
“For the upteempth time, NBA-SPIDEL reminds the EFCC, Nigeria Police Force, DSS and other law enforcement agencies that as a constitutional democracy, Nigeria accords full rights to its citizens. Those rights can only be curtailed or derogated by a law made in a democratic society.
“Of recent, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has engaged in indiscriminate storming of hotels and houses at odd hours and barging into the rooms of near-naked, sleepy lodgers. The commission claims that its aimed is to arrest “yahoo boys”. These gestapo-style mode of arrest is not only provocative but clearly unacceptable, as it negates global best practices in the anti-graft battle. We assert that investigation and evidence should always precede arrests.
“These agencies not only err in deploying crude methodology in investigation of crime in the 21th century, they apparently derive unwholesome pleasure in detaining suspects indefinitely and without arraignment and trial, as prescribed in Chapter Four of 1999 Constitution.
“It is noteworthy that despite the recent order of the Federal Capital Territory (High Court) in Abuja that one Gloria Okolie who has been in detention since her arrest by the operatives of the IGP’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT) be released or charged to court, the police have refused to comply with this order to release the suspect after over eighty (80) days of illegal detention. Instead of complying with the order, the police authorities approached the court recently, urging the judge to reverse his order on the matter without providing any reason for the strange request. Admirably, the learned judge stood his ground.
