A group of young people protested against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) raid on two nightclubs on Monday in Akure, the capital of Ondo State, which resulted in the detention of 127 individuals.
On Saturday, commission employees barged into nightclubs and took approximately 127 young people into custody on suspicion of engaging in online fraud.
A man who was spending his bachelor’s day on a nightclub raid with his pals was among those detained.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the nation’s capital, chanting anti-graft commission songs and demanding the unconditional release of those detained.
Traffic was backed up on both the governor’s office road and the well-travelled Oba Adesida Road due to the demonstration.
Femi Akinremi, one of the demonstrators, demanded that the federal government and the state look into the acts of the EFCC employees.
He said, “When has it become a crime for citizens to enjoy themselves at nightclubs? The guys (EFCC personnel) just entered the nightclubs and started arresting our friends. Is it every youth in clubs that is into ‘yahoo yahoo?”
Though none of the suspects were subjected to abuse or dehumanisation, the EFCC acknowledged that its agents from the Ibadan Zonal Directorate in Akure had arrested the accused.
The commission denied the claims in a statement sent on Sunday by Dele Oyewale, Head of Media and Publicity.
Oyewale declared that during sting operations, commission staff members do not use tear gas.
The statement partly read, “The Commission wishes to state that no suspect was assaulted, brutalised, or subjected to any dehumanising treatment during the Saturday operation. It is also false that tear gas was fired at the crime scene.
“Those familiar with the Commission’s operations know that EFCC personnel do not use tear gas during sting operations.
“The officers that carried out the arrests neither came to the scene of crime with canisters of tear gas nor whips to inflict bodily injuries on suspects.”
