EFCC disperse pro-Yahaya Bello protesters

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Monday, barred dozens of protesters, who stormed their headquarters to demonstrate in support of the embattled former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, from entering the premises.

Daily Trust reports that, earlier, there were anti-Yahaya Bello protesters at the headquarters of the anti-graft agency located at Jabi, Abuja, with various placards containing various inscriptions.

They were calling on the commission not to rescind its decision to arrest and prosecute the former governor, arguing that dropping the case would portray the country and the agency in a bad light.

About an hour later, pro-Bello protesters stormed the commission’s headquarters with placards showing various inscriptions while chanting various anti-EFCC songs.

They demanded to see the chairman of the commission, Ola Olukoyede, whom they alleged had been persecuting the former governor.

Our correspondent, who covered the two protests, reports that pro-Bello protesters were denied entry by stern-looking operatives of the commission.

The protesters, in their numbers, subsequently advanced towards the main gate of the commission, and tried to enter forcefully before they were repelled by the gun-wielding operatives of the commission.

Speaking to journalists after they were repelled, the leader of the protesters, who identified himself as Convener of the Kogi Youth Coalition, Otitoleke Richard, said they were only trying to express their displeasure over what he described as media trial of Yahaya Bello.

He said they were not there to destroy anything within the premises of the commission or attack any of the operatives of the anti-graft agency.

But in an interview with Daily Trust, the spokesman of the commission, Dele Oyewale, described the pro-Yahaya Bello protesters’ actions as “unruly behaviour”, stressing that they were only chased away but not attacked as being circulated.

In a related development, scores of anti-corruption organisations have berated the EFCC for allegedly flouting the Child’s Rights Act by revealing details and identities of minors whose parents are being investigated over alleged corruption with specific reference to the case of the immediate past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, whose children’s names and other details were reportedly made public by the commission.