Mr Viral
It was around 5 am. Agabi, 31, and his wife, three months pregnant, were deep asleep, lulled by the early morning breeze in Kwalkwalawa, Sokoto State when a loud commotion from outside their apartment jolted them. They had recently discovered they were expecting twins, and their hearts were filled with excitement. But that morning’s travail would soon rob them of their joy.
The operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a mission to apprehend suspected internet fraudsters raided their estate of 20 flats on August 25, 2023. Many of the residents, mostly students, were arrested that morning.
A few days earlier, the couple had gone to the hospital for a routine checkup and received the good news that they were expecting twins. Agabi began preparing for fatherhood and started buying baby supplies. Little did they know that a devastating raid that would tear their dreams apart was looming.
“It was still dark outside when the door was forced open,” Agabi recalled. He sat up and was barely awake when an EFCC agent barged into their bedroom which had his wife lying naked on the bed. Despite his confusion as to what warranted the presence of the agent in his bedroom, Agabi bore the humiliation, requesting the agent to leave whilst they got dressed. However, the agent barked orders at him to dress quickly and follow them to their office.
They confiscated his laptop and phone and dragged him into their vehicle. Along the way, one of them struck him from behind, bidding him to quicken his pace. They brought him to their Hilux and squeezed him into the midst of other suspects before they zoomed away. Meanwhile, they left his wife behind, alone in the apartment, to suffer the physical and emotional trauma of the drama that unfolded before her eyes.
Agabi
At the state EFCC facility, the agents subjected Agabi and his neighbours from the estate, whom they also arrested, to hours of interrogation. Despite finding nothing incriminating about him, they treated Agabi with hostility and went as far as threatening to beat him.
“When we got to their state headquarters, the director came out, started recording everyone’s face, and asked for our names. I told him not to publicize my name or face because no investigation had been carried out, and I had nothing to hide,” Agabi said.
He recalled that the director assured him that they would not make the footage public, but, days later, he would find his name in a list on the EFCC’s website, which he considered a damage to his reputation.
“I remember one of them asking me to sit on the floor in a corner. I asked him, ‘Am I a criminal? Why should I sit on the floor?’, and he threatened to slap and beat me up. I told him he had no right to touch me, especially after barging into my house and traumatizing my pregnant wife. I stood my ground, and eventually, he let me be.”
By the time they released him in the evening after their investigations revealed that he was indeed innocent, he would find that they had taken more than just his freedom and right to privacy and personal dignity. His wife, whom the events of the day distressed greatly, began feeling unwell and, two days later, started bleeding.
The couple rushed to a specialist hospital in the dead of night, only to get the devastating news that she had lost the pregnancy that brought them so much joy. The trauma of the raid had taken a toll on her, and she lost their twins. For Agabi, the cause was clear. The stress and fear that the EFCC raid inflicted on his household was responsible for his wife’s miscarriage.
This case is not an isolated incident. Over the years, allegations of human rights violations have sprung from different quarters, relating to the operations of the EFCC, especially in their pursuit of suspected internet fraudsters. Agabi and his wife are just one of many families caught in the crossfire of the crude tactics these operatives deploy in the line of their duty.
The EFCC was established in 2003 to investigate financial crimes, such as advanced fee fraud (419) and money laundering. However, in recent times, Nigerians have seen this agency develop a predilection for hunting internet fraudsters in a manner that has put innocent citizens at the receiving end of their harassment, assault and arbitrary arrests.
Expectedly, citizens have expressed their frustration over it through a series of protests aimed at demanding reforms in the agency. From artistes like Skales and Shallipopi, to former reality show stars, Dorathy and Leo Dasilva, even celebrities have had their share of this plague of intrusion and harassment at the hands of the EFCC.
Legal and public affairs experts posit that the tactics of the agency are now becoming more akin to the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian Police Force, a notorious unit that employed inhuman means to conduct their duties, a practice that claimed countless lives and ultimately triggered a nationwide #EndSARS anti-police brutality protest in 2020.
Tales of chaos, intimidation and harassment
Norah Okafor, an Abia State journalist, was asleep after a strenuous day when a loud knock from her gate jolted her around 2: am. Her brother, who had come to spend holiday with her, rushed to her room to alert her that there were armed robbers at the gate. They had not the slightest inkling that the invaders were operatives of the EFCC.
When they did not respond, about 25 armed men, by her count, clad in black and spotting masks, breached the electric fence surrounding her apartment, leaping into the premises. After gaining entry, they smashed through the door, forcing their way into her apartment. She was in bewilderment and barely had clothes on when the officers stormed her room.
Norah Okafor
“About seven of them entered my room. I was naked, and they demanded I put on my clothes. They shouted, ‘Lie down! Face down! Where is your phone?’ They damaged my doors and slapped my brother,” she told The ICIR,
They seized her phone, laptop and car keys before forcing her into the premises where she had parked her car the previous day. They proceeded to harass her neighbours and destroy things in the compound, she alleged.
“It was more than one hour, and I was wondering who they were. When we came downstairs and they were to take my car and my brother, I began to ask them, ‘Who are you and why do you want to take my car?’ That was when I saw some of their men in EFCC vests. I asked why they didn’t identify themselves to do their job professionally”.
Amidst the turmoil, Norah attempted to retrieve her identity card from her car, and it accidentally dropped on the ground. This was when the agents saw “PRESS” on it and realised they were at the wrong place. The officers hastily returned everything they had taken and drove off, leaving her to bear the damage.
When Okafor went public with her story the next day, the EFCC, in their usual style, denied the allegation. “They said I just wanted to trend for no justifiable reason,” she recalled.
This is similar to the response of the commission to the accusations of an actor, Helen Duru, who shared a video of herself in her blood and with a fractured skull, alleging that the operatives of the commission broke into her house and took turns to bash her until she bled profusely. The commission responded by saying the actress was merely seeking attention. Norah Okafor’s door broken by EFCC operatives
However, Okafor subsequently sued the agency for violating her fundamental human rights and demanded the sum of N20 million for exemplary and general damages. She also sought a declaration from the court that the invasion by the masked operatives while she was naked and asleep was unlawful, unconstitutional and an infringement on her rights to the dignity of the human person.
Ultimately, the Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, Abia State, ordered the commission to pay her 3.5 million Naira and tender a public apology in two national dailies. However, two years after the ruling, the agency neither obeyed the court order nor appealed the judgement.
Like Okafor, many Nigerians, including students, have fallen victim to the crude modus operandi of the EFCC. However, all but a few nursed their woes without involving the judiciary.
One of them is *Chukwudi who once lived at a 36-person resident behind the University of Ibadan. He was in Oyo, caring for his sick mother, when his neighbour called around 4: a.m. to report that people were breaking into their rooms. He was glad that, before he left his room, he had already secured his laptop in a drawer and locked the door to his room.
However, he tried to reach the neighbour afterwards but couldn’t get through to him. By 6:30 am, another housemate informed him that they had taken away seven housemates after breaking into all the rooms, except one. One of the housemates, whose brother worked as a security in an EFCC facility, confirmed that the agency was responsible.
Chukwudi’s room disrupted by EFCC officials
When Chukwudi eventually arrived, he found that they had ransacked his room. His MacBook Pro, PlayStation 4, Bluetooth speaker, international passport, University of Ibadan (UI) certificate, important documents, and a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge that held his crypto assets, were missing.
His parents sent a lawyer to the EFCC office. There, the officers accused him of escaping and searched his phone for evidence, but they found nothing. Whilst they were able to recover some of his items, his MacBook and Samsung phone remained missing. The agents claimed someone else might have taken them after the raid, but Chukwudi insisted that they left his room unsecured. The head of operations threatened him with detention, but he continued to push for his missing laptop.
He continued to vent his frustration via tweets about his situation, creating an unsavoury situation for the EFCC and they soon realised that he was not going to let them be. His story gained traction online, prompting them, assumedly, to intensify their efforts to find his belongings. Four days later, they claimed to have found his MacBook in their raid bus, a story that seemed unbelievable, considering the bus had been used in other operations.
Chukwudi recovered his belongings except the Samsung phone and, although he considered suing, he chose not to pursue it further. Some of his housemates endured even worse outcomes. For instance, one of his roommates, a woman, was beaten during the invasion. Though he managed to retrieve his laptop and other items, the experience scarred him and gave him a glimpse of the many unethical practices of the anti-graft commission.
*Chukwudi
During his frequent visits to the EFCC office, Chukwudi witnessed how the agents would seize suspects’ items but not list everything, leaving victims helpless. He also observed the brutality of the operatives, who regularly harassed and beat people, whether they were guilty or not.
New EFCC administration, same issue
When Ola Olukoyede took over from Abdulrasheed Bawa, under whose administration allegations of human rights abuses abound, many Nigerians thought the agency’s approach was going to change when its leadership changed hands in June 2023, but cases of arbitrary arrests, assaults and harassment have rather continued to persist.
Apart from breaking into people’s homes, their major targets are tertiary institutions and hotels, sparking reactions from student union organisations and hotel owners across the country.
EFCC chairman, Ola Olukayode
One night in November 2023, EFCC operatives invaded the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Students’ off-campus hostel at the Oduduwa Estate. They went on to apprehend no fewer than 69 students, ferrying them to detention at their Ibadan zonal office.
Hafiz, a young and ambitious software engineer, wouldn’t forget the day in a hurry.
“I was woken by several shouts and loud banging noises that I immediately thought to be gunshots,” he narrated.
Living in a students’ hostel, Hafiz initially thought they were under attack by armed robbers. Peeping through the slits in his door, he saw his fellow tenants lying face down, surrounded by armed men. Fearing for his life, he tried to escape by crawling into the ceiling but soon changed his mind when he suffered a sudden electric shock.
The gunmen stormed his room, dragged him downstairs, and ordered him and the others to lay face down on the cold floor, beating them relentlessly. It wasn’t until he noticed the jackets of his captors that he realised they were not criminals, but agents of the EFCC.
“I had no idea why I was being taken away. I’m not a fraudster. I’ve never been involved in cybercrime,” he cried.
Despite his innocence, they sandwiched Hafiz into a vehicle with other students, forcing them to sit on the laps of one another as the bus brimmed with the addition of suspects from neighbouring hostels.
“They warned us not to look up or we would be shot,” he looked back at the terrifying moment.
58 students arrested by EFCC operatives at the OAU
According to the commission, they arrested the students, following actionable intelligence on their suspected involvement in fraudulent internet-related activities, and published their names and photographs in media reports as internet fraudsters. They eventually released 58 of these students, meaning that the evidence found on them was not strong enough for conviction. Expectedly, the mass arrest sparked an outrage, raising many disturbing questions.
Following the release of the arrested students, many of the parents demanded an apology from the EFCC for the unlawful clampdown on their wards. They also sought the immediate clearance of their children’s names, pictures and biometrics from the anti-graft body’s records. However, the commission did not respond to the clamour that their actions could jeopardize the future of these young ones or address the concerns.
Violating its own directive
Following the outrage that trailed the arrest of the OAU students, the commission’s chairman, Ola Olukoyede, directed its operatives to stop sting operations at night. However, this didn’t stop the officers of the agency from continued raids of businesses and homes or the harassment and arbitrary arrest of young Nigerians.
In defiance of its own directive, the operatives stormed various students’ residences at the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) in a midnight raid and arrested 14 students around 3: am. The Student Union of the institution accused them of destroying property, maltreating and inflicting injuries on some other students.
*Christiana, a student of the University, was trying to rest in her hostel after a long spell in the lecture halls. Suddenly, heavy beams of flashlights pierced through the darkness in her room, and she fell out of her sleep. By the time her vision adjusted to the change in lighting, she saw three men standing. Her thought was that they were thieves or kidnappers.
“I woke up with flashlights on me,” she recalled with a shaky voice. “I wasn’t wearing anything. I saw three men, and I was just begging them not to touch me. I could not even think they were law enforcement agents.”
Amid fear, Christiana found herself pleading with the strangers, hoping they wouldn’t harm her. She still couldn’t connect the dots when they started asking for her name, her department and whether she lived there. Her words came out in stammers, uncertain of her fate until one of them turned and she saw “EFCC” behind his vest.
“He told me to put on my clothes and take them to the rooms of the guys with cars,” she explained. “I told them I didn’t know any of the guys with cars. I was just staying there.”
As she put on her clothes with her nerves around the place, one of the agents remained in the room and watched her. She had no moment of privacy or any sense of safety. When she was ready, he led her outside and continued questioning her about who lived there, but she had no answers. The raid soon spiralled into chaos, with agents knocking down doors.
They seized phones and personal belongings, threatening anyone who resisted or asked questions.
“Some of them corked their guns, saying that if those guys tried to run, they were going to shoot them,” Christiana added, her voice still laced with the fear she felt that night.
Later, EFCC operatives, heavily armed, moved to Shauz club and Signatures club, which frequently hosted night parties and events in the state, in a white space bus.
Eyewitnesses observed that the officers used excessive force during the operation, entering various clubs and lounges, tear-gassing patrons, and arbitrarily arresting people. The raid resulted in numerous injuries as they fired tear gas canisters inside one of the clubs.
In one of them, a bride, groom and his friends, who were at the club for a pre-wedding celebration, found themselves on the anti-graft operatives’ web, facing indiscriminate profiling as internet fraudsters.
After the raid, in which the commission arbitrarily arrested 127 people, they claimed that the suspects were attending a gathering related to internet fraud. Photographs from victims of the raids showed the bodies of women at the club who were at the mercy of the masked officers’ rage.
These relentless raids would later stir up a youth protest on illegal raids without proof of warrant or authorisation as hotel owners. Angry youths and civil society groups in Akure branded the raids barbaric and unlawful.
The commission dismissed the videos and pictures exposing how they assaulted, harassed and destroyed properties at nightclubs as stage-managed. However, a subsequent operation at another hotel in Lagos State validated the widespread allegations of human rights violation against its operatives as they fired shots, injured customers and arrested guests. Hotel staff alleged that the officials broke into rooms, assaulted guests and workers, and took away ATM cards, money and phones.
The agency would have discredited the claims, as usual, but CCTV footage capturing about five EFCC operatives in tactical vests breaking into a room through the door was enough evidence. As soon as they entered the room, one of them repeatedly hit a staff member they met inside.
CCTV showed an EFCC officer assaulting a woman
The footage showed that the woman did not struggle with the operatives and how they led her out after the short scene in the room. Two of them could be seen inspecting drawers in the room with one caught taking some items before leaving the room. Caught red-handed, the commission released a statement ordering the arrest of the officers for further investigation.
Regrettably, despite clear evidence, the agency has not meted any sanctions on the officers involved in this assault and the statement did not disclose the names or any other details regarding them.
The call for reforms
In July, many young Nigerians announced the plan to embark on a protest tagged #ReformEFCC to express their frustration over the continuous and alarming human rights violations by the operatives of the commission and demand for reforms.
The protesters outlined six key demands, which include ending indiscriminate arrests and invasion of homes, property destruction during sting operations and, likewise, profiling, assaulting and manhandling of young Nigerians. However, subtle intimidation and threats from the EFCC and other security agencies suppressed the plans.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time Nigerian youths have protested over allegations of human rights violations by the operatives of the EFCC. In October 2022, some youths in Delta State protested against them, which claimed three lives.
Similarly, some students of the Federal Polytechnic Ede in Osun State, protested their colleagues’ arrest after the commission’s operatives raided the school. Twenty-seven of these students were later expelled for participating in the protest.
Some citizens believe that the agency has narrowed its mandate to merely hunting petty thieves while giving preferential treatment to corrupt politicians who face allegations of looting public funds.
Data obtained by The ICIR shows that the EFCC has faced significant challenges in securing successful outcomes in the last five years, despite its aggressive tactics. Out of 58,165 cases investigated, primarily through raids and sting operations, the agency was only able to secure 10,935 convictions.
This represents approximately 19 per cent of the entire cases probed by the commission in that period. This implies that the remaining 81 per cent of cases investigated did not lead to convictions. Concerns have been raised about the effectiveness of the EFCC’s methods, particularly given the rife allegations of human rights violations reported during their investigations.
Similarly, there has been a decrease in the ratio of cases investigated to cases filed in court over the years. Of the 58,165 cases investigated, only 16,115 cases were filed in court between 2019 and 2023. This means that the agency was unable to build a strong case against about 72 per cent of the individuals it investigated, oftentimes through raids, arbitrary arrests and inhuman interrogations.
Also, the total number of convictions secured by the agency has shown an increase since 2019, the overall effectiveness when compared to the number of cases investigated, remains concerning. For instance, in 2019, the commission was able to secure only 14 per cent of convictions from the cases it investigated while the conviction rate in 2023 is only 15.21 per cent
Violating extant laws
Interviews with several victims showed that the operatives of the EFCC are violating various national and international laws in their operations. Independent accounts from victims show that operatives met out beatings before concluding the investigation, violating the Torture Act 2017. The Act seeks to ensure that the rights of all persons, including suspects and detainees, are respected at all times. It also stipulates that, no person placed under investigation or held in the custody of any person in authority shall be subjected to physical harm, force, violence, threat or intimidation or any act that impairs their free will.
Chapter 4, Section 34 of the Nigerian Constitution also guarantees the right to human dignity and prohibits all forms of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment and slavery or servitude. This section ensures that every Nigerian is protected from actions or conditions that violate their dignity as humans.
In addition, the EFCC often arrests individuals arbitrarily and detains them for days whilst attempting to extract evidence for prosecution, rather than conducting a proper investigation before making arrests. This is against section 35 of the constitution, which states that an agency cannot detain anyone for more than 48 hours (or 24 hours, in most cases) without charging them in court. This is also a diversion from similar agencies across the world, where strong intelligence is gathered for crimes before arrests follow.
Legal experts interviewed by The ICIR stressed the need for the EFCC to adopt rigorous investigative methods and ensure diligent prosecutions and convictions, without allowing its operatives to violate the law whilst executing their mandate.
“EFCC now operates like armed robbers. They break down doors, search without a warrant, intrude on people’s privacy and do all sorts of stuff that armed robbers do. Only that theirs is official. EFCC is now the new SARS,” was the deduction of Ridwan Oke, a Lagos-based human rights lawyer who played an important role in the release of several detainees during the October 2020 #EndSARS protests.
Oke stressed that Nigerian laws are explicit about how security agencies should operate, without violating fundamental human rights, including the right to human dignity as outlined in the constitution.
“What I’m seeing from the EFCC is not much different from how the police have been operating, which we’ve always criticized,” he said, adding that, “If you want to conduct an arrest, even if you have an arrest warrant, you must do so with thorough respect for the law. That means you don’t just break into residences.”
He condemned the EFCC’s practice of conducting raids at night without proper warrants, stating that such actions should typically only be carried out during the daytime, which could range from 6: am to 6: pm unless the individual in question has been evading arrest for a prolonged period.
Ridwan Oke
“However, the EFCC breaks into apartments, beats people up and, sometimes, even steals from them. This is totally against our laws. We have rights to human dignity, rights to privacy, and several other rights that are enshrined and protected. So, it is unacceptable if the EFCC is violating these rights. The level of investigation they claim to be conducting doesn’t matter. The EFCC often disregards these legal protections in some of their activities.”
On his part, Vahyala Kwaga, a lawyer and Senior Research & Policy Analyst at BudgIT noted that EFCC’s tactics often prioritise performance over justice. He explained that the criminal justice system involves a comprehensive value chain, starting from investigation and arrest, and culminating in prosecution, adjudication and sentencing. He, however, observed that the agency often focuses only on arrests as yardsticks for its performance, which, as he believes, is their motivation for rushing to publish names of suspects without concluding necessary investigations.
[c Vahyala Kwaga
“The EFCC [and other investigatory agencies] is meant to be guided by their establishing law and court orders. While the president appoints their heads and the legislature confirms them, they are bound by the decisions of courts on procedure and independent of the executive. This is in line with international best practice,” he said.
Kwaga implored the EFCC to enhance its compliance with human rights laws, particularly in cybercrime raids. He advised that the agency should make public disclosures of its investigative methods and ensure that its officers ask critical legal questions before conducting raids, such as whether the actions are lawful, necessary and proportionate.
Additionally, he highlighted the importance of maintaining detailed arrest records, promptly informing detainees’ families, and providing continuous training to EFCC officers on proper arrest procedures and human rights protections.
Illegal detention and extortion
It took several days to get *Adejobi, to agree to an interview. The 25-year-old, who is amongst the students arrested on February 14, when armed EFCC officers conducted a midnight raid at a student residence in Akure, described the experience as one he wouldn’t wish to encounter again. His voice quivered as he recounted his ordeal, showing possible signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Around 2: am, on the fateful day, the officers stormed his hostel, broke down doors and seized personal belongings, including phones, PCs and even a motorcycle. Adejobi’s singular offence was owning a Samsung phone and a laptop.
“They took us to the back of the building and said we should open our phones and bags. They started checking everything. Based on their intuition, they decide on who would be going with them or not. If you were using something like Tecno, they would ask you to go but if you were using something like iPhone or Samsung, they would ask you to follow them. It seemed like they were deciding who to take with them based on the gadgets they possessed,” he recalled.
The raid was part of a larger operation, with the officers moving from one location to another, hunting for students who matched their profile of internet fraudsters based solely on their possessions. After confiscating their devices, they whisked Adejobi and others off to Benin City, where they arrived after hours of waiting for other buses conveying students, they arrested from other schools to join them.
The officers ordered the students to sit on the floor, ransacking their bags and asking them how they managed to get their gadgets and what they used them for. Adejobi, who is a programmer, had to explain his work to clear any suspicion of criminal activity. Despite cooperating, they held them for almost two days. Some of them were tortured by the operatives of the agency. After further questioning and verifying their information, they released some of them, but without providing them any assistance to return to Akure, where they arrested them.
Another victim, *Folohunsho said he was detained by the commission for 10 days without being charged after the daughter of an Assistant Inspector General (AIG) in the Nigerian Police Force, reported him to the EFCC over alleged fraud.
“I was held without any real evidence, just an accusation. Yet, they kept my phone and laptop for nearly two months.”
Folohunsho’s time in custody was a nightmare. In his words, “The officers were brutal. We were served meals three times a day, but the food often had flies and maggots. When we complained about. They treated us like animals. I saw men beaten with pipes and belts,” he recalled, saying was just a fraction of his harrowing experience.
“I had to transfer ₦200,000 to one of the officers to get my phone and laptop back. My parents told me they paid between ₦350,000 and ₦400,000 for my release. One of my friend’s father had to part with N10 million to get us out. It was extortion, plain and simple,” he concluded.
EFCC reacts
The EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, claimed that the agency’s operatives adhere to extant laws in carrying out their operations.
“EFCC is a law enforcement agency. There is a standard practice worldwide regarding arrests. We typically use search and arrest warrants. No case has ever been proven where we just barge into people’s premises.
“Our chairman is a lawyer with a deep respect for the rule of law. We follow our standard operating procedure (SOP) and act within legal boundaries. We don’t break into people’s homes; we are neither bandits nor terrorists.”
He asserted that most of the people arrested during their operation were convicted, adding that, “If there were no legal grounds for their arrests, they wouldn’t have been convicted. We are working in the best interest of the commission. People need to balance their allegations with an understanding of the law.
“These allegations are false. When you want to hang a dog, you give it a bad name. In the EFCC, we have an internal mechanism to address any actions that do not align with our SOP. There is no culture of impunity. We have checks and balances, and our operatives know this. If there is any impropriety, it is dealt with internally.”
On continued practice of night-time raids despite the chairman’s directive, Oyewale said, “What our chairman stated was that we would no longer conduct raids. We are not armed robbers or bandits. Sting operations are lawful and conform to international best practices. What people refer to as raids are sting operations.
“Sting operations are lawful. You know, they are allowed and conform to international best practices. What our chairman said at that time was that there would be no raid. This thing that we initially raid, that people will just break into people’s houses, break their doors; don’t do that. We do sting operations.”
Note: Names with asterisks have been changed to protect the identities of the victims
This story was produced with support from the Tiger Eye Foundation under the On Nigeria programme, funded by the MacArthur Foundation
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