Former President of the Bar Association of Nigeria, Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) on Thursday, said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should not exist.
He said the commission was now being run outside the constitution.
Agbakoba said this at a news conference in Lagos.
According to him, since the EFCC is a creation of the National Assembly, it has no power to interfere with the activities of the state government.
A senior Nigerian advocate, stressed that the 1999 Constitution only provides for one police force for Nigeria, adding that the Anti-corruption agency is not a branch of the police, hence it cannot perform its functions.
He pointed out that the EFCC remains a Federal establishment created by the national assembly, adding that under Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution, the powers of government are divided into two: Federal and state.
“So the question is, if the EFCC was created by the Federal Government can it prosecute state crimes?
“The Supreme Court in many of its rulings has stated that federalism means two autonomous and independent governments and if that is true, the EFCC has no right to go into the country and audit its accounts.
“Anyone can read section 46 of the EFCC Act and section 36 (12) of the 1999 Constitution. Section 36 (12) states that all offenses must be established and when you read section 46, you ask yourself if it complies with section 36 (12) because it is not.
“So part of the prayer that I will have in court is that the EFCC should not have been there in the first place because it is not a branch of the police and the job that the EFCC does is the same as that done by the Special Fraud Unit of the Police.
“My other prayer is whether the national assembly can make laws for the federation and to what extent the national assembly which is the arm of the Federal Government makes laws that authorize federal agencies to exercise powers as if they were state agencies.
“So all these contradictions should make the presidential candidate tell Nigerians what he is going to do about the constitution because it is flawed,” Agbakoba said.
The human rights lawyer, however, said he is not against the commission because he is one of the biggest supporters of the rule of law and the fight against corruption, noting that the real problem is the failure of the security agencies to follow the rules. rule of law.
Agbakoba, however, said as a demonstration of goodwill to the anti-corruption agency, he is ready to engage the EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, in a dialogue session on the issue.
The former NBA president said: “I do not believe that the EFCC knows the law that created them because as a lawyer myself, I am a little confused, because I found that the 1999 constitution is structurally broken.
“Now I understand why people say the country needs to be restructured. Whoever wrote this constitution planned for Nigeria to fail because, on the one hand, it seems to empower the EFCC to interfere in the affairs of the country, but on the other hand, it doesn’t.
Recall that Agbakoba had told the EFCC in December about the new action against the Kogi Government.