The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) has narrated how it resisted move by some Air Force personnel to forcefully released some of their collegaues detained at its Kaduna Zonal Command.
Daily Trust gathered that, on Monday, operatives of the anti-Corruption agency arrested five suspects at a residential Inn and Disney Chicken Eatery, Barnawa, Kaduna, following credible intelligence about their alleged internet-related fraud activities.
The suspected fraudsters: Favour Itung, Rachael Ande, Zuleiman Haruna, Abubakar Ismaila, and Solomon Olobatoke were arrested without incident.
But after the sting operation, six military personnel who witnessed the operation at Disney Chicken Eatery stormed the Kaduna Command and attempted to forcibly release the arrested fraud suspects.
The military personnel were reportedly subdued and detained over the security breach, leading their colleagues to invade the EFCC command in an attempt to forcefully free them.
But Dele Oyewale, Head, Media & Publicity of the anti-graft agency, said the EFCC did not bow to pressure.
He identified the detained Air Force personnel as: Lawal Abdullahi, Chukwuma Chidi Christian, Alfa Suleiman, and Emmanuel Ekwozor, and two students of the Nigerian Air Force Institute of Technology, AFIT: Chidera Anuba and Joseph Tokula.
According to him, while the six personnel were in detention, there were inter-agency communication and discussions between the leadership of the EFCC and Air Force to resolve the issues, but the NAF personnel who invaded EFCC command, on Friday, broke the dialogue.
“Unfortunately, dialogue on the release of the combative Air Force personnel broke down on Friday, November 17, 2023, when some unruly NAF Officers stormed the Kaduna Command in a commando-style to forcefully release their detained colleagues.
“The EFCC exercised restraint in the face of the provocation and flagrant abuse of power. The Commission continued to engage with the leadership of the Nigeria Air Force and released the officers to the NAF Provost after they had been duly profiled,” he said.