A Nigeria-born US-based urban mobility expert and socio-political commentator, Seyi Osiyemi, has criticised what appears as a media obsession by the newly appointed Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede.
Seyi, who currently serves as General Manager at Transit Management of Charlotte, a US company playing in the Local and Suburban Transit industry, warned the new appointee to refrain from media “paparazzi,” noting that a court, and not the media, was a better place to prove corrupt persons guilty with evidence.
The social commentator and ‘good governance’ advocate made the remark in a post published via his Facebook handle: Seyi Osiyemi, on Friday, April 26, 2024, berated the EFCC boss not to become another ‘Nuhu Ribadu’.
“As I watched the recent media conference of the current EFCC Chairman, where he spoke about the botched arrest of former Kogi state gov, Yahaya Bello, what I saw was another ‘Nuhu Ribadu’in the making,” he stated.
Explaining why he compared the 54 year old to the former EFCC chair, he alleged that, “Nuhu Ribadu spent his entire career at EFCC granting media interviews, talking about cases ‘yet to [sic] decided’ by the law court.”
He added, “He (Ribadu) was more interested in appearing in the front pages of newspapers rather than focusing on his job quietly.”
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The EFCC Chairman had on Tuesday spoke with editors, Bureau Chiefs, and media executives at the EFCC Headquarters, Jabi, Abuja, claiming that investigation by the anti-graft agency revealed that the former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, who is now at large, withdrew $720,000 from the state’s coffers to pay his child’s school fees.
In a now viral video tape, Olukayode was heard saying he had called the governor, inviting him to defend himself but turned down the opportunity.
Bello allegedly paid $720,000 in advance as fees for five of his children who are said to be in grade level 2 to 8 at the American International School of Abuja.
While Seyi, in his critic, doesn’t seem to justify Bello’s misconduct, he suggested that the anti-graft agency avoid courting the media in its approach to deliver justice.
He said Olukayode was walking in the shadows of his predecessor, Nuhu Ribadu, who was once very vocal in the fight against a crop of politicians he is currently working under.
“Who would have thought that Mr Ribadu will someday end up carrying the handbag of a man he supposedly accused of been [sic] the grandmaster of corruption? And only to be later appointed as National Security Adviser by the same ‘grandmaster of corruption’,” he alleged.
“So what am I saying? We’ve had enough of all the media ‘paparazzi’. Let those appointed to office get to work. I don’t need an EFCC Chariman [sic] to tell me that Mr Yahaya Bello withdrew $700k to pay his kids school fees. Go to court and present your evidence. If the govt is really serious about fighting corruption, as they claim to be, I have no doubt that with water-tight evidence, the court will convict Mr Yahaya Bello.
“And please don’t come give us that bullcrap that you don’t know where Mr Yahaya is. If the govt was able to smoke out Nnamdi Kanu in Kenya and Sunday Igboho in Benin Republic, you can’t tell me that they don’t know where Yahaya Bello is.
“So, please let’s stop all this grandstanding!”
