Attach To EFCC: Prove That I am Guilty

Source: EWACHE AJEFU, ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF - thewillnigeria.com
PHOTO: R-L: OBONG VICTOR ATTAH AND HIS LAWYER, MR MIKE OZEKHOME AT THE EFCC HEADQUARTERS RECENTLY.
PHOTO: R-L: OBONG VICTOR ATTAH AND HIS LAWYER, MR MIKE OZEKHOME AT THE EFCC HEADQUARTERS RECENTLY.


ABUJA, July 22, (THEWILL) - Oblong Victor Attach, erstwhile Governor of Aiwa Ibo State has said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will have to prove the allegations of financial misconduct against him allegedly perpetuated between 2003 and 2007 while he was governor of the state.


Attach said under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he is presumed innocent until proven guilty under the law.


He showered encomium on the EFCC for having a ‘human face’ in the course of conducting its investigations on alleged financial impropriety and fraud brought against individuals or corporate bodies.


Attah expressed his view via his counsel Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), who said that after a two-year investigation of the governor, the commission gave him a clean bill of health.


Ozekhome also faulted an Abuja based legal practitioner, Mr. Kayode Ajulo for criticizing EFCC over its decision to grant the former governor administrative bail.


Ozekhome was not happy with Ajulo on the ground that Attah, until recently has never been invited, summoned or cautioned by any security agency in the country.


"It is the EFCC that has the onus to prove his guilt if it finds anything incriminating against him. They have not. EFCC should be lauded and encouraged for wearing a human face against corruption within the confines of the rule of law without compromising its efficiency and effectiveness," he said.

"EFCC should has no power to detain a person when there is no suggestion that such a person has committed an offence or will escape from justice. There is no basis for comparing Attah’s mere invitation by EFCC to clarify some issues with the case of Ibori who had undergone a trial, the charges of which were quashed by a competent court of law," he said.


"Obong Attah before now has never been invited, summoned, queried, interrogated, investigated, cautioned or indicted by the EFCC or any other security agency in Nigeria for that matter. Consequently, the lie flies in the face to suggest most unfairly that Attah has been under EFCC investigation for two years and should have been promptly charged to court!


"EFCC has no power to charge an innocent Nigerian to court for the purpose of satisfying some vested interest or to boost its visibility. After careful and painstaking investigation for about two years, the same EFCC gave a clean bill of health to that company, de-freezing it account because ‘investigation into this matter is concluded and no case of money laundering established against the company."


Attach was interrogated for over 7 hours at the commission a few days ago over his alleged involvement in the shady disposal of Aiwa Ibo State government shares in V-mobile.