By David Ojong
Impunity reign of Ibrahim Magu led Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has continued unabated as the commission allegedly arrested a pregnant woman on a mere speculation without formal invitation.
A pregnant woman, Mrs. Bukola Ademola was arrested and detained by the EFCC for over three hours on a Sunday morning without previously invited by the commission or its agents. A complaint addressed to the chairman of EFCC dated 4th May, 2018, alleged that “Mrs. Ademola woke up on the 29th April 2018 being a Sunday at about 6.56 am, while preparing to go to church some men of the EFCC in conjunction with their police counterparts and some hoodlums stormed her residents and took her away to Gwarinpa police station before moving her to EFCC head office at Wuse 11, Abuja.
We gathered that when Mrs. Ademola sighted some unknown faces led by one Sunday Ogeneotchuke on her gate, she moved closer to them to find out what was their mission but she received a shock of her life when she was told that they were looking for one madam Ademola and when inquired further if they know her in person, instead of answering her question they put a call to an unknown person and immediately they said to her ‘you are the one, we are from the Force CID, open gate and come with us.’ But when she discovered that the men were about to jump through the fence she quickly raised alarm and the men disappear only to reappear with a uniform police officer (Corporal Abu) from Gwarinpa police station.
The complaint further alleged that, ‘Our client was taken to the Gwarinpa police station where Ogeneotchuke and one Nasir Aminu Shehu from the EFCC Abuja were waiting in a white Toyota Hilux car and they took her and her two kids to EFCC head office at Wuse 11, off Ademola Adetokunbo crescent where she was detained for over three hours before the prompt intervention by the Chairman of FCT Correspondents Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists, Mr. Raphael Ekpang who took her on bail for an undisclosed offence’. Hence, we gather that she claimed not to have met Sunday Ogeneotchuke, a purported complainant of an undisclosed offence before.
A source at the EFCC said, when Mrs. Ademola, was brought to their office she asked Nasir Aminu Shehu ( Purported IPO) why she was arrested, Aminu Shehu directed Ogeneotchuke to explain to her why she was arrested and he, (Ogeneotchuke) said to her, “You were directly involved in the transaction.” “Which transaction?” she asked, but no answer was provided.
Nevertheless, she was asked to write her statement based on what Ogeneotchuke, a purported complainant told them orally, but she insisted on seeing the complaint or petition written against her, but she was allegedly force to respond thus, which she did and Aminu Shehu transmitted thus via a WhatSapp to one Kelvin Onorode of EFCC Port-Harcourt.
Our investigation shows that, Kelvin Onorode and his cohorts spent about a week here in Abuja trying to kidnap her to Port-Harcourt. Also, EFCC until the time of going to press is yet to reply to her complaint, though a staff of the commission who received the letter from her lawyers claimed that the commission can only reply after thirty days. Meanwhile, EFCC is still holding unto her mobile phone and international passport.
Our investigation further shows that, after much demand by her lawyers to see the petition that propel her arrest, EFCC produced a scanned petition written on a fake company letter headed paper (Metighane Nig. Enterprise) and signed by one Felix Metieh, the branch manager of First bank, Agbaro branch, Warri, Delta State which claimed that her husband did an unknown transaction with the said company.
According to residents of Gwarinpa who spoke to us on the condition of anonymity, Aminu Shehu, Onorode and their cohorts invaded Mrs. Ademola residents on the night of the 4th May, being a Friday trying to kidnap her away when it was obvious that they have gotten a hint of the complaint to the chairman of the EFCC, but luck ran out of them when one retired general of the Nigeria Army approached them and asked why they were there at that period of the night, a situation that saw the men vanished from the area.