The Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Ibadan Branch, Ibrahim Lawal has stressed the need for effective collaboration between the Bar and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as a panacea for success in the fight against corruption, there must be an effective collaboration between the EFCC and the Bar.
Lawal made this statement when the Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA) Ibadan Branch, which he led paid a courtesy visit to the EFCC Ibadan Zonal office.
The Ibadan NBA chair condemned touting by lawyers revealing that his Branch has set up an “Anti-touting Committee,” saddled with the responsibility of investigating and sanctioning lawyers who deviated from professional ethics.
While taking side with the Commission on not permitting lawyers to stand as sureties in any EFCC’s case, he maintained that doing so was “reprehensible and unacceptable to the Bar.”
He, however, requested for official and effective line of communication between the EFCC and the Bar for adequate sharing of information and for addressing enquiries by lawyers.
Responding, the Ibadan Zonal Director of the EFCC, Hauwa Garba Ringim charged defence counsels in the Commission’s cases to be guided by the ethics of their profession in the discharge of their duties to their clients.
Speaking for Ola Olukoyede, the EFCC Chairman, Ringim said, “It is disheartening how a reasonable number of lawyers come into EFCC premises and begin to display unprofessionalism; trying to interfere in investigation activities and pushing to get things done their own way, outside the standard operating procedure of the EFCC.
Ringim who is an Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE1, said, “Why would a lawyer walk into the EFCC office to see his client and tell the investigating officer that he or she ought to have concluded investigation on his or her client, and that if the officer does not conclude investigation within his stipulated time he will frustrate the efforts of the investigating officer? This is appalling.”
While emphasizing the need for consistent stakeholders’ engagement between the Bar and EFCC towards effective service delivery, Ringim further frowned at the situation in which lawyers now roam EFCC premises, “hunting for clients without considering the decency of their profession.”
The EFCC boss, however, assured lawyers in the country of the Commission’s collaboration, noting that it is critical in the law enforcement activities of the Commission.
