EFCC, Police In Tug-Of-War Over Same Suspects

• Lawyer drags EFCC to AGF over “double jeopardy” arrest

AN Abuja-based lawyer, Khadijah Bayern, has petitioned the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) over what she described as “double jeopardy” and intimidation following the re-arrest of her clients by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the same matter already being handled by the Nigeria Police Force.

In the petition titled “Double Jeopardy and Intimidation’ Bayern alleged that her clients: Illesanmi Olaniyi and Ishola Maruf, were first arrested by the police in Abuja over a reported “glitch” involving Moniepoint Bank. She said they were invited to the Force Intelligence Department (FID) on 17 March 2024, detained, and later granted administrative bail with sureties — a bail which remains valid to date.

According to her, during the police investigation, two vehicles: a Toyota Hilux van and a Toyota RAV4, were seized alongside goods, equipment, documents, and other items from the suspects’ residences. These items, she noted, were still in police custody, while a forfeiture case was ongoing in court.

Bayern expressed shock that despite the matter being under active police investigation and already before the court, the EFCC, through its Special Duty Section 2 (SDC2), invited and detained the same suspects over the same allegations. She alleged that the anti-graft agency had kept them in custody for 12 days without bail.

“This amounts to double jeopardy. The EFCC is aware the matter is before the Nigerian Police Force at FID, with several seizures already made. Detaining them again on the same subject matter undermines and frustrates both investigation and prosecution.

“They are medically unsound, and the EFCC clinic can attest to their frequent visits due to their failing health,” she said, warning that their continued detention posed serious risks,” Bayern said.

While maintaining that both men were legitimate businessmen prior to the alleged bank glitch, Bayern called on the AGF, as the number one law officer in Nigeria, to intervene and halt what she described as multiple arrests on the same case by different agencies. She acknowledged that EFCC has right to investigate, adding, however, “but the issue is non-admittance to bail when it’s a bailable case and they are already on administration bail in the police formation that are investigating the matter.”

In a separate letter dated 29 July 2025, addressed to the Director of SDC 2, EFCC, a counsel to Mr. Illesanmi Saheed and Mr. Maruf Ishola, corroborated Bayern’s claim, noting that the men were already on administrative bail granted by the Nigeria Police Force’s Force Intelligence Department (FID) over the same matter. The lawyer argued that given the duplication of the case between two agencies, there was a need for flexibility in the EFCC’s bail requirements.

Part of the letter reads: “In particular, we kindly request that they be permitted to present civil servants on Grade level 14 and 15 as sureties in lieu of the higher grade initially stipulated. Furthermore, our clients have a medical history of a serious type of cardiovascular disease that requires medical attention regularly. We assure you that this request is made in good faith and will in no way interfere with the Commission’s investigation. We trust that the commission will consider this request favorably, in the interest of justice, fairness and our clients’ health.”