The executive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, Monday tasked defence counsels in EFCC cases to be guided by the ethics of their profession while discharging their duties.
He stated this while speaking through the Ibadan zonal director of the EFCC, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE1 Hauwa Garba Ringim, during a courtesy visit by the executive committee of the Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA) Ibadan branch, led by its chairman, Ibrahim Lawal.
The EFCC executive chairman expressed displeasure at the attitude of number of lawyers coming into ” EFCC premises and begin to display unprofessionalism, trying to interfere in investigation activities.
“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,” he said.
He added: ” 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.”
Stating the need for consistent stakeholders’ engagement between the bar and EFCC towards effective service delivery, Olukoyede condemned the situation in which lawyers now roam EFCC premises, “hunting for clients without considering the decency of their profession.”
He assured lawyers in the country of the commission’s collaboration, adding, it is critical in the law enforcement activities of the commission.
The Ibadan NBA chairman, Lawal condemned touting by lawyers adding that his branch has set up an “Anti-touting Committee,” saddled with the responsibility of investigating and sanctioning lawyers who deviate from professional ethics.
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