EFCC’s Parade Of 7year Old For Cybercrime, Indecorous And Il-conceived – HURIWA Says

Human Rights Writers Association Of Nigeria (HURIWA), has described the media parade of a 7-year-old boy, Victor Oche Odeh, who has been reportedly convicted by the Kaduna State High Court based on his prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on June 26, as disconcerting, indecorous, and ill-conceived.

This was just as HURIWA expressed concern over hasty generalisation by the EFCC boss of undergraduates and cybercrimes.

It stressed that a recent report quoting the head of EFCC as having said that seven out of ten Nigerian undergraduates may be involved in cybercrimes was an undue demonisation of youngsters in Nigeria which must never be encouraged.

HURIWA in a statement on Sunday questioned the rationale behind charging a 7-year- old child in the same regular court with adults when the anti-corruption agency could have done more investigation to ascertain whether the child was not actually bullied by the adults to participate in the fraud for which the child has now been convicted in Kaduna.

According to HURIWA; “The National Assembly needs to work out a law to make it obligatory that children who are in conflict with the law are not unduly exposed and demonised. “It is absolutely inappropriate to parade a child for a crime known to have been initiated by adults. To rub salt into injury, the media parade of this little boy is tantamount to psychologically damaging the reputation of this boy for life which is unfair, illegal and wicked.

“We don’t condone crimes but we believe that such a child ought not to have been so recklessly exposed even when the EDCC was pursuing justice for the victims of the reprehensible crimes.

“Victor, alongside four other undergraduates, Chidebere Stanley Opara, Manasseh Sefa Ephraim, Chukwukere Obinna Paul, and Enyogu Etim Ekpo were reportedly found guilty on separate one-count charges related to internet fraud,” it said.

HURIWA noted that the convictions were secured by the Kaduna Zonal Command of the EFCC, and Justice Darius Khobo of the Kaduna State High Court presided over the sentencing.

The Human Rights organisation noted that the charges stemmed from a sting operation conducted in Kaduna, revealing the group’s elaborate scheme of creating false identities on various social networking sites to defraud unsuspecting victims, particularly foreigners.

It said that the 7-year-old was accused of cheating by impersonation, presenting himself as Christopher Anderson, a white man from Denver, Colorado, USA, on Facebook, adding that his conviction, under Section 57 of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law 2017, is punishable under Section 309 of the same Law.

Reacting to the media display of the photo of such a juvenile and the fact that he was actually prosecuted in the same criminal court as an adult, HURIWA stated that the entire media exposure of such a very young boy was a clear manifestation that Nigeria is getting it wrong with the practice of democracy.

HURIWA also quarried why the identity of that child was not made anonymous due to his age and for the fact that doing otherwise as EFCC has done by publicising his tiny image, has ruined his reputation in life and could psychologically and emotionally traumatise the boy for a very long time.

HURIWA noted that in most legal jurisprudence and jurisdictions such as in the United Kingdom, juveniles and children alleged to have committed a crime are basically not exposed in the media and often the practice in UK is that even the name of the said child suspect is subject to public restrictions.