Mr. Ugochukwu Ezeanyagu, a businessman from Abia State, has shared a harrowing experience where his family was traumatised by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Ezeanyagu, who narrated the traumatic experience to ABN TV in an interview, said that the EFCC operatives stormed his home, located at Umuobia Olokoro Estate, Umuahia in the early hours of Friday, December 6, on suspicion of internet fraud.
The heavily armed operatives, some of whom were masked, he lamented forcibly, broke into his residence, around 2am, causing distress to his family, including his eight-month pregnant wife.
According to him, the operatives forcefully broke the gates and doors with hammers to gain entry and seized his phone and electronic devices but found no evidence linking him to internet fraud or any criminal activity.
He said that the worse humiliation was asking my eight-month pregnant wife, who was naked when they stormed into the house to laid down with face down while they ransacked his house.
After realising their mistake, he said they apologised and left, but not before causing significant trauma to Mr. Ezeanyagu’s pregnant wife, who has been hospitalised since the incident.
The incident has raised concerns about the EFCC’s operational methods and lack of accountability for errors.
Mr. Ezeanyagu has called for justice and urged the EFCC to adopt more professional and humane approaches to avoid causing harm to innocent citizens.
He said, “The most humiliating part was that my wife, who is over eight months pregnant, was completely naked and asleep when they burst into our room. They didn’t care about her state or modesty; they just ordered us to lie face down, treating us like hardened criminals.”
Continuing, he said: “When they realised they had made a mistake, they apologised and left, but the damage was already done. My pregnant wife was thrown into a state of shock and trauma due to the incident and has been hospitalised since.”
This has shown a pattern of the EFCC’s mode of operation, destroying people’s property without accountability.
In a similar scenario three years ago, EFCC officials wrongfully raided the home of a journalist, Norah Okafor, also in Umuahia.
Across the country, Nigerians have raised severally how the anti-graft agency go out in the midnight with chisel and hammer destroying people’s property in the name of looking for “Yahoo boys.”
In many instances, hotel facilities have been destroyed with no one held accountable.
