The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has obtained a remand warrant, which allows it to detain Femi Fani-Kayode for another twenty-one days.
Jude Ndukwe, SA Media to Chief Femi Fani-Kayode made this known in a statement he issued on Monday.
In his words: “Chief Femi Fani-Kayode was sneaked into an Ikeja magistrate court where EFCC obtained a highly contentious warrant to keep him in their custody for another three weeks in defiance to the court notices served to EFCC for the enforcement of his fundamental human rights, even though EFCC requested for a thirty-day remand warrant.”
Ndukwe said “the EFCC had been served the court notices from a Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday, 20th of May, 2016, “but to our consternation he was whisked to Lagos last Thursday and taken to an Ikeja Magistrate court this morning where they applied to keep him for another thirty days.”
This is a gross abuse of court processes and a denial of his fundamental human rights”. He added.
Pointing out that the EFCC attempted to take him to the magistrate court without notifying his lawyers or family members. His lawyers had to go from court to court in Lagos searching for venue of the court proceedings before it was eventually traced to Ikeja.
Jude Ndukwe described the action of the EFCC as inhuman especially under a Democratic government.
“This action would be the beginning of a feud. EFCC have no reasonable cause to continue to keep Chief Femi Fani-Kayode in their custody beyond the constitutional provision of 48 hours.
He is not known to have either attempted to evade arrest nor resisted same.
“EFCC have since concluded their investigations by the virtue of details of the case they leaked out to the public through the press. So, they have no reason to keep having him in their custody without taking the noble option of charging him to court, after all, they have already kept him with them long enough.”
“As an organisation that prides itself as a constitutionally responsible one, it is expected that holding a citizen endlessly would not be part of EFCC’s operations. If they have anything against Chief Fani-Kayode, one expects that they should charge him to court rather than obtaining contentious remand warrants from one court to the other.”
“Recall that EFCC had earlier obtained a similar remand warrant in Abuja to keep him for two weeks which has since elapsed.”
“This latest action by EFCC has confirmed rumours making the rounds that the federal government wants to give the former Minister of Aviation the Dasuki/Naamdi Kanu treatment, a treatment alien to our laws but is fast becoming the norm under the current administration.
The question now is, with this naked abuse of our constitution, who is next, and for how long will this continue?”
