A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader and former presidential aide, Dr Doyin Okupe, says EFCC operatives were at his home in Lagos on Saturday.
Dr Okupe took to Twitter to announce incident, informing his followers that the operatives confronted him with an allegation of cybercrime and asked him to follow them to their office, but they did not have a warrant for his.
He, however, declined to follow them, offering instead to visit their office on Monday.
Efcc just stormed my house in Ilupeju Lagos asking me to follow them. No letter . No letter of IV no warrant. Saturday!
— Doyin (@doyinokupe) December 8, 2018
The former presidential aide told Channels Television in a phone interview that he declined to follow the officials because they had no warrant for his arrest.
He said when he was informed that two EFCC officials wanted to see him, he asked that they should be let into the house, even though he had no idea why they were at his home.
Narrating what happened after he asked that the officials be let in, Okupe said, “They brought them in, two of them, into my sitting room and they showed me their identity cards, (adding) that they were from the EFCC and asked me to follow them.
“I found that quite troubling… you come to my house (with) no notice, no letter of invitation, nothing; no warrant of arrest (and say) that I should follow you, on a Saturday.
“I told them that that is not right. As a citizen of this country, I should not be treated that way. I am not a common criminal, I am a well-known person and I am a responsible man, law-abiding.”
Okupe said he also informed the officials that he had been to the EFCC office several times and reporting to the agency was not a problem to him.
Consequently, he said he declined to follow the men, prompting them to say they were going to get a letter and another detachment of officials to ensure he complies with their demands.
“I said that is still not going to work. Invite me, then I will tell you when – within a reasonable time – I will come. But if you bring a warrant of arrest, I don’t have any choice than to follow you,” he added.
According to the PDP chieftain, after a protracted argument during which he gave the officials his word that he will report to their office on Monday, they left.
The officers finally agreed to leave on d promise I will see them Monday. Offence.. CYBER CRIME
— Doyin (@doyinokupe) December 8, 2018
Asked about the allegation of cybercrime, he said he did not know exactly what they were accusing him of but suspected it might be related to his social media activities.
“I imagine that, in recent times, if you write something on Facebook or you retweet something that the government considers to be hate speech… those things have been added to cybercrime now,” he said.
He, however, denied doing anything wrong, stressing that there was the need to differentiate between civil liberties and oppression.
Despite insisting that he has done no wrong, Dr Okupe said he would keep his word and report to the EFCC office on Monday.
Meanwhile, sources at the EFCC confirmed that officials were at Okupe’s home because he violated the country’s Cybercrime Act.
