EFCC Cites Interim Forfeiture Order For Raid On Sun Newspaper
- NUJ kicks, demands apology from EFCC
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday said contrary to media reports, its visit to the headquarters of The Sun newspapers in Lagos is part of routine efforts to determine the state of the publishing company’s assets currently subject of subsisting interim forfeiture order.
This is even as the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lagos State chapter has given the EFCC 72 hours to apologize to The Sun Publishing Limited or be dragged to court over the invasion.
Chairman of the Lagos NUJ, Deji Elumoye, described the sealing off of the newspaper house as “barbaric”, noting that, “This is a great violation of the freedom of movement and association of the affected Nigerian citizens as entrenched in the 1999 constitution of Nigeria as amended.
“The council, therefore, gives EFCC a 72-hour ultimatum to publicly apologise to The Sun management and the affected staff for the unwarranted siege, failure which we will not hesitate to ask our team of lawyers to seek redress in court,” the statement said.
But reacting to its operatives execution of the early morning raid at newspaper’s head office, the EFCC said The Sun’s management has been lukewarm to its request for accountability in the administration of assets over the subsisting court order’s period.
It stated the Commission is still awaiting an official response from the media outfit owned by billionaire-businessman and two-term former Governor of Abia State (1999-2007), Chief Orji Uzor Kalu.
Describing reports on the EFCC’s visit as skewed and diversionary, the Commission said it will not be distracted by any attempt to whip up sentiments by alluding to an appeal which has been pending for ten years, adding that, “The Commission’s action is without prejudice to any appeal and only meant to verify the integrity of the assets.”
Below is the EFCC’s statement tagged “EFCC’s presence at the Sun Newspaper”
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in the early hours of today, June 12, 2017 visited the head office of the Sun Newspaper in Lagos. The visit, which lasted for less an hour, was part of routine efforts to ascertain the state of the assets of the publishing company which is subject of subsisting interim forfeiture order.
Prior to the visit, the Commission had written to the management of the company to account for its management of the assets for the period of the subsisting court order.
The Commission still awaits the response of the Sun and will not be distracted by any attempt to whip up sentiments by alluding to an appeal which has been pending for ten years. The Commission’s action is without prejudice to any appeal and only meant to verify the integrity of the assets.
Contrary to claims in a statement released to the media by the management of the Sun, no staff of the media outfit was molested or intimidated for the few minutes that operatives of the Commission spent in the premises of the company. The claim that “EFCC operatives subjected our staff to crude intimidation, psychological and emotional trauma, even as some of the men accused our organization of publishing pro-Biafra, Boko Haram, and Niger Delta Militant stories,” is strange and clearly the figment of the imagination of the Sun.
There was no reason to molest anybody as the commission has always related professionally with the publishing outfit. The attempt also to link the visit to the acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu’s threat to sue the organization over a libelous publication is also diversionary. Magu is pursuing that option in his private capacity and his lawyer, Wahab Shittu, did write the Sun and his letter was widely published in the media on March 31, 2017.”
