A contractor from Umuahia, Abia State, Ugochukwu Ezeanyagu, has petitioned the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Olanipekun Olukoyede, over an alleged midnight raid on his home.
In a letter by his lawyers, Equity Law Partners, signed by Shankyula, T.S and made available to journalists, Ezeanyagu narrated that about 15 EFCC officials, some of whom were masked and armed with AK-47s, broke into his house around 2 am, slapping him and his 8-months pregnant wife.
The officials allegedly accused Ezeanyagu of being an internet fraudster but later apologised after finding no evidence to support their claims.
They had earlier asked him if he was the owner of the Mercer SUV and a Toyota Corolla parked in the compound.
However, before leaving, they allegedly carted away some bottles of wine from his fridge and slapped his security guard.
Ezeanyagu, who described the EFCC action as criminal trespass, unlawful invasion of privacy, criminal intimidation, assault and theft, is demanding justice, including N150 million in compensation for the trauma and humiliation he and his family suffered.
The contractor also seeks a public apology from the EFCC officials involved in the raid.
"When the said EFCC men did not find anything incriminating against our client, they merely tendered an apology and left. To our client's chagrin, to round up their criminal mission, which they set out to perpetrate, as they were going, they shamelessly stole bottles of wine from Our Client's bar. They also slapped the security man who was on duty.
"Our Client has further informed us that he and his 8-month pregnant wife have, since the illegal operation of the rogue EFCC officials, been in a precarious condition, petrified and thrown into severe psychological trauma. Our Client's wife was distressed and had to be rushed to a hospital to be managed and stabilised.
"We have the instructions of our client to complain to your good offices against the illegal and unlawful acts of the men of the EFCC, whether of the Umuahia zonal office or wherever they came from.
"We clearly state that every Nigerian deserves to be treated with dignity and due regard to his or her constitutionally guaranteed rights. The criminal trespass of the EFCC men to Our Client's house at such an ungodly hour of 2am on the night of 6th December 2024 remains questionable and suspicious and should be probed into very seriously. Our Client's right to privacy was violated.
"He and his wife were intimidated, assaulted, manhandled and humiliated. The EFCC men came without a search warrant. Their mission was illegal, and as it proved to be, they found nothing incriminating against Our Client. Instead, as common thieves and criminals that they turned out to be, they shamelessly stole wines from Our Client's bar.
"We write this petition mindful that law enforcement agents in our country, Nigeria, must not be allowed to continue to paint a very gory picture of the country's image. It is embarrassing that for an elite institution like the EFCC, its officials could claim to be acting on an intel that turned out not only to be fake but a mission for housebreaking and stealing, assault and the like.
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"We, therefore, would like to ask you to use your good offices to properly investigate this complaint about the conduct of the EFCC officials towards our client. Our Client demands for justice. Equally important is also the fact that brave conduct such as this needs to be kept in check to serve as a deterrence for other officials.
"We also put it on record that there is CCTV footage of some parts of the operations of these EFCC officials. We are, therefore, demanding justice for our client and his family.
"We ask for the sum of One Hundred and Fifty Million (N150,000,000.00) naira only as compensation to assuage the pain caused to our client and his family. We also demand a public apology from our client and the EFCC officials," the letter reads in parts.
