LAGOS—The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has reiterated its determination to work within the ambit of the law in its fight against all forms of economic crimes and corruption in the country.

The assurance was given yesterday by the Chairman of the Commission, Mrs. Farida Waziri, when she presented a cheque of N3 million to Dr. Sylvester Odigie, a Lagos-based businessman as damages for his wrongful detention by the Commission between May 24 and July 6, 2006.

The presentation of the cheque was in obedience to an Abuja High Court order. While presenting the letter of instruction to Odigie, the EFCC boss stressed that the gesture was in fulfilment of the Commission’s resolve to respect court judgments and operate within the ambit of the law in its fight against corruption.

“As a law enforcement agency, we have chosen to abide by this court judgment to further buttress our determination to always work within the ambit of the rule of law”, she said, adding that the rule of law policy as exemplified by the Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua’s administration has given beauty to the practice of democracy in the country.                                             

The EFCC chair assured Nigerians that as a law enforcement agency, the Commission was determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past. “We are committed to upholding and protecting the laws we are established to enforce”, she said.

Reacting to the development, Dr Odigie, who said he was wrongfully detained by the EFCC between May and July 2006 over some land transactions, expressed gratitude to the chairperson of the commission, for boldly upholding the court order.

“This is a special day. I never knew this day will ever come in Nigeria. It is here, and I want the world to know that this is a new era altogether, an era of rule of law.” 

He said Mrs. Waziri was a bold woman, who must be supported by Nigerians. “She had an easy way out and could as well say the incident did not happen at her own time”, he said.

Dr. Odigie also thanked the Commission, the judiciary and the government saying that his prayer was for God to grant the judiciary the courage and wisdom to do the right thing, as it is the last hope of the common Nigerian.

Seun:

Good for him. Ironically,
the people most likely to get compensation are
people who are rich enough to hire good lawyers.

Seun:

Good for him. Ironically,
the people most likely to get compensation are
people who are rich enough to hire good lawyers.

Raymond88:

Hey i was once detained by two female officers! where's my money?!

muhsin:

Wish I was him. Lucky dude.