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WHEN the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was established in 2003, it was supposed to be an instrument of justice, a platform through which criminals are brought to book and appropriate punishment meted out to offenders. Nowhere was it stated in the Act establishing the Commission that it was to be used by powerful interest groups as an instrument of oppression or retribution. But right after it was established by the administration of ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, the commission has been a willing tool in the hands of government and powerful interest groups to oppress and intimidate lesser mortals.

There have been cases where the EFCC has  been unleashed on states where their governors are at daggers drawn with the federal government. The EFCC acted with impunity when Nuhu Ribadu was its first chairman and continued to do so even when his successor, Farida Waziri took over after he had left. The tendency for the financial watchdog of the government to veer off its duty has also continued with the administration of Ibrahim Lamorde as the chairman of the EFCC, who, incidentally, admitted that there are corrupt officials in the Commission at the confirmation hearing in the Senate after he was appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan.

But the deviant behaviour of the commission has not changed as Nigerians. who can afford, use it as an attack dog or as an instrument of vengeance. It all played out in the case of Uzoma Cyril Attang, director in the federal ministry of Communication Technology, who has been having a harrowing experience in the hands of the EFCC,  which is being used by one Chukwuemeka Anagor, who in the first instance, duped Attang and her husband. The gory tales of the EFCC complicity in the trail of Attang is what Realnews decided to expose in the cover stories in this issue entitled: Desperation of A Blackmailer and EFCC, The Attack Dog. The stories were written by Mike Akpan, our capable editor-in-chief who did the magazine the honour of writing his first cover stories. It is a rare occurrence. But it shows the passion he has for the defence of justice. He wrote it in a grand style and provided in graphic details of the rot in EFCC which militates against its effectiveness as an organ of government fighting financial crimes in the country. The stories are a must read. Enjoy it.

Maureen Chigbo
Editor

— Mar. 11, 2013 @ 01:00 GMT