Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has decried the arrest of his long-time ally and friend, Dr. Olu Agunloye, a former Minister of Power, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over his alleged role in the failed Mambilla Power Project on which the country reportedly lost billions of naira.
The former Minister had, on December 13, 2023, surrendered to the EFCC Headquarters in Abuja, a day after the anti-graft agency declared him wanted.He has been in custody since then.
But in a press statement, Soyinka decried what he termed the “unjust detention” of Dr. Agunloye, declaring that the exercise was questionable and “in total contempt of sense and justice” or “basic humane considerations.”
Recalling that this was not the first time he was personally intervening in “the high-handed and illegal conduct of the EFCC”, the world-renowned literary icon asked the anti-graft agency to either release all its prisoners or equally arrest and detain all those involved in “this mammoth SCAM that has deprived the “GIANT OF AFRICA” the basic survival facility for a twenty-first century society.”
“Concerning governance,” Soyinka wrote, “there is never any moment too early, nor demand too drastic in calling for the overhaul of security agencies where their activities intrude on the fundamental rights of the citizen.
“The practice of citizen detention at the whim of either religious blackmail or secular arrogation demands curtailment at source, most especially when exercised in defiance of the law, and the pronouncements of its agencies. Anything less goes to remind us that anarchy remains a choice for citizen recourse, with unpredictable consequences.
“The immediate provocation for these reflections is ongoing predicament of a former Minister of Power, Dr. Olu Agunloye, currently detained by the EFCC, in total contempt of sense and justice, or indeed, basic humane considerations.
“We shall not go into the merit or demerits of the charges raised against him over a 16-year-old project that bears the name Mambilla. – that is the business of the law courts. Our concern at this moment is however only partially on the basis of individual Fundamental Human Rights.
“Most fortuitously, the detention of any former public servant under circumstances such as Agunloye also provoke the question: how is public interest – such as the pursuit of justice – served by such arbitrary exercise of power?
“Before the now familiar carping, let me state that this is not the first time I have personally intervened in the high-handed and illegal conduct of the EFCC. All the way back to its inception, and public enthusiasm over its mission, I have had cause to use every means to promote and facilitate the success of that mission, while at the same time insisting on the organization’s operation under the law and citizen entitlement.
“My personal relations with the EFCC include placing the civic organization in which I am involved in active relationship with that corruption fighting agency, even to the existence of an MOU of collaboration. From the time when, intoxicated by righteous zeal, the EFCC in its early years attacked the home and offices of a businessman with a bulldozer, destroying and carrying off valuable equipment, I tackled its then director and demanded civilized usage in opposition to brute force.
“It was this that impelled me to facilitate bringing President Kagame of Rwanda to Nigeria to lecture on how he tackled a deep-seated corruption culture among public servants.
“That was effected in the context of a conference on that very theme at the dedication of new offices of EFCC. I have never hidden my commitment to the operations of any corruption fighting agency, including EFCC’s predecessor, the ICPC.
“Those credentials are stated to forestall any time-wasting and distracting interventions – let us now get down to immediate, and nation affective missteps by that same EFCC.
“The resort to “Trial or Smear by Media” of the most sensationalist kind, launched against the person of Dr. Olu Agunloye is unworthy and reprehensible. Most critically – and I want both governance and citizenry to understand this – it is counterproductive. It inhibits genuine inclination by proficient citizens for public service. That is a lamentable obstacle on the way to any nation’s development.
WANTED??? Just what is that?
“Olu Agunloye has pursued his movements openly to the extent of being present and photographed at my sister’s funeral on December 8. He did not appear in disguise, did not sneak in and out. He functioned as any normal human being at an event at which the Press was present. Less than thirty-six hours later, he was declared WANTED: If that was an EFCC joke, it was in extremely bad taste, obviously designed for Social Media sensationalism, not for any serious crime-solving commitment.
“Nonetheless, Agunloye, as a dutiful citizen, issued a statement on his visibility and ready compliance. He promised to show up at the EFCC offices in Abuja the following day. He appeared, was promptly arrested and detained. The information I have been able to obtain during the past two days of my return to the country is that the Head of the EFCC declared that he would release him only on the instructions of the President of the Nation.
“True or false? I am not in the game of “He said, I said”.
“What matters is the murky exercise of power. I have had cause to intervene before this, all the way from Are, through Ribadu and Magu, that last until he stopped taking my calls. The present however transcends all other interventions, as it involves certain issues of national interest, in tandem with the evident issues of fundamental citizen right.
“In the meantime, the EFCC should release all its prisoners or, in the alternative, equally arrest and detain ALL those involved in this mammoth SCAM that has deprived the “GIANT OF AFRICA” the basic survival facility for a twenty-first century society.
“One chicken in the coop is a travesty of justice and a deplorable lack of nerve. Release Agunloye, or detain all those directly or indirectly implicated in that fiasco. The preening and posturing of EFCC has served its purpose, it is time to now divert it to a productive end – bringing closure on the one hand, and also opening up new channels of productive fulfillment for a stressed and distressed nation.”
