Arrest of Nwoko by EFCC: Matters Arising
Immediate past Attorney General of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Uwemedimo Nwoko SAN has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). My position is that he should clear his name in court. No one should accuse EFCC of persecution in this particular case.
Officials of the Akwa Ibom State Government believe that they are above the law. The whole world recently read scandalous reports from the Accountant General of the State on how the current governor is wasting public funds with impunity.
As Attorney General, Nwoko SAN ensured that frivolous charges were filed against those who opposed the government of Akwa Ibom State. He basically turned the State Ministry of Justice into a partisan machinery of the ruling party in the State.
He also engaged in serial human rights violations in abuse of his position as the Chief Law Officer of Akwa Ibom State. As Attorney General, Nwoko SAN ensured that over a dozen people in Akwa Ibom State were arrested and prosecuted on ridiculous charges for merely speaking on social media against government officials. He cannot now claim human rights when he does not believe in it.
I had cause to defend a number of persons who were victims of state sponsored persecution during his reign as Attorney General of Akwa Ibom State. He has a terrible human rights record. How about citizens who were detained for weeks and months under his leadership as Attorney General?
Besides, EFCC has not violated any of his rights at this moment.
I know as a fact that there has been dispirited efforts to truncate any form of investigation of corruption by anti-corruption agencies in Akwa Ibom State.
Mr Nwoko as Attorney General filed frivolous lawsuits to bar EFCC from investigation state officials. Please, let’s allow EFCC to do its work. He has been running from one court to another to truncate investigation of corrupt officials. Let him face the law. If the court says he is innocent, so be it.
It took my intervention before one of the frivolous injunctions he sought and obtained against anti-graft agencies was vacated by a Judge of the Akwa Ibom State High Court. Mr Nwoko then refiled the same case at the Federal High Court claiming that EFCC, ICPC and the Police do not have the power to investigate the finances of Akwa Ibom State.
In Akwa Ibom, they don’t give EFCC and ICPC access to documents.
Nwoko himself doesn’t believe in investigation before trial. He didn’t implement that policy when he served as the Attorney General. In Nigeria, we only remember human rights when members of the ruling elites are involved.
He should carry his cross. He does not believe in the rule of law. I will say this before any authority in this country without apology.
In any event, there’s no big deal in his arrest.
I do not want to say much about his alleged indictment in the ongoing case involving the immediate past President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). But it will be of interest to Akwa Ibom people to know how and why a serving Attorney General allegedly received millions of Naira into his personal account.
Signed:
INIBEHE EFFIONG ESQ.