EFCC Trampled On Court Orders By Invading Rivers State – State Govt.

The Rivers State Government has condemned what it called the invasion of the state by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), describing it as an abuse of the judicial process and persecution of government officials.

EFCC officials had on Monday arrived in the state to quiz some lawmakers over the funding of the state House of Assembly.

House Majority Leader, Hon. Chidi Lloyd, who is standing trial for the attempted murder of a colleague, was interrogated over the funding of the legislature.

Lloyd, whose trial resumed Tuesday, was remanded in prison custody by a Rivers State High Court, sitting in Port Harcourt, after he had pleaded not guilty to the six-count charge preferred against him.

Condemning the action of the EFCC, the Chief of Staff to the state governor, Chief Tony Okocha, said yesterday in Port Harcourt that although the Chibuike Amaechi-led administration was not afraid of being investigated, the anti-graft agency was deliberately trampling on judicial orders.

He said the EFCC was aware of a subsisting court order that barred the commission from interrogating or investigating officials of the state.

According to him, the anti-graft body should have vacated the court order first before invading the state.
He described the investigation as another phase of the federal government’s attempts at intimidating and persecuting the state government and its officials.

“There is a subsisting court order that says they cannot interrogate or investigate officials of the Rivers State Government on the financial dealings of the state’s affairs.

“This is still subsisting and they know the proper thing to do is vacate this order first, but they have left this undone. Rather, they came unleashing their operatives after state officials. This is improper and we consider it a violation of judicial processes.

“The Rivers State Government is not stopping them from doing their duty. We have no reason to be afraid of probes or investigations; the state government and its officials have not done anything unlawful, our books are clean, but we must insist that things be done properly.

“Nigeria is a democracy and we profess the rule of law and the supremacy of the constitution. So the EFCC should not, because it is Rivers State now, try to disregard or disobey the law.

“This is just another phase of the witch-hunting game, it is obvious. You know how they operate; they just go after people, hoping to intimidate and harass them.”

The state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) welcomed the investigation, which it said would end the alleged squandering of resources by the state government.

In a statement by Jerry Needam, Special Adviser, Media to the party’s Chairman, Felix Obuah, the PDP expressed concern about government spending since the onset of the political crisis in the state.

The statement alleged that the sitting by the lawmakers to give approval to virement in the 2013 budget on the day violence broke out in the assembly was meant to accommodate and legitimise huge government spending.

It urged the EFCC to “extend its tentacles to the accounts of the state House of Assembly which we suspect, has been hugely used as a conduit pipe to siphon state funds.”

It also called for the probe of the wife of the governor, Mrs. Judith Amaechi, and some council chairmen over the funding of the first lady’s pet project, the Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI).