EFCC renews ties with military to battle oil thieves in Niger Delta region

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said it is renewing partnerships with the navy and the army to battle oil thieves and pirates in the Niger Delta.

The Port Harcourt Zonal Head of the anti-graft agency, Usman Imam, said moves were on to train some naval officers on how to handle people with exhibits.

He stressed that the fight against oil thieves cannot be won alone by the agency, adding that it requires strong collaboration with sister security agencies and the public to win the crusade.

Imam spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt while conducting journalists round the agency’s detention facility following the viral video that allegedly claimed that a crammed cell belonged to the EFCC in Rivers State.

He described the clip as fake, urging the public to disregard the distraction.

His words: “The picture of detainees crammed into an open cell purported to belong to the EFCC zonal office in Port Harcourt is fake. The picture and the images therein are strange.

“We do not have an open cell, we have never had large inmates that the cell could not accommodate. There is no mistreatment of detainees, as suspects being tried by the commission always prefer to be remanded in EFCC custody. If the commission had been abusing the rights of detainees, they would not prefer its facility to prison.”

He added: ” Keeping suspects consumes a lot of resources. We don’t encourage detention. If you detain more than 30 people, you can have a bill of about N1 million in a month. Whenever suspects are brought to us, we process a remand warrant, carry out investigations and then arraign them.”

The zonal head said, at the moment, only 19 inmates were in custody, comprising a female and 18 males.

Imam disclosed that the suspects were arrested in connection with oil bunkering and conspiracy.

He pledged that the seeming distraction would not deter the command from executing its mandate of fighting economic and financial crimes.

The anti-graft czar vowed that there would be no hiding place for criminals in the zone.

He added that the 241 trucks impounded from the thieves had been forfeited to the Federal Government and transparently auctioned to the public.