FOI: Lawyer Compels EFCC To Name Bribe Takers

Barely two weeks after the freedom of information law was signed by president Goodluck Janathan, Human Rights Lawyer, Mr Bamidele Aturu on Tuesday became the first person to put the law to test by requesting the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to supply the names of members of the Committee for Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) who received bribe recently.

The EFCC had in a statement accused the civil society group of collecting the sum of N52million from some of its suspects being investigated by the commission in order to weaken the campaign against the commission.

In a swift reaction Mr Aturu who is a solicitor to CDHR urged the anti-graft commission to prove the allegation or be face a with a suit.

He urged the commission to obey the law by disclosing the names of the suspects that gave N52million to the leadership of the CDHR and the persons to whom the money was given.

The legal practioner also want the commission to disclose the manner in which the money was paid and when, where and how the money was paid, threatening to drag the commission to court if it fails to disclose the names of the suspects.