Remember Paul Tarfa? He was the famous colonel, at the height of military rule, who had a rather infamous koboko theory.
No, the good colonel (as he then was) was no sadist. He was just pissed by the brash outlawry on Lagos roads, and would have none of such wayward traffic. His simple solution? Tan the hide of whoever you caught! That should put the fear of God in others!
That gentleman officer now enjoys a hard earned rest after retiring as a General. But the odyssey of another Tarfa cannot but resonate the koboko theory.
In his titanic tussle against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ricky Tarfa, SAN, taking a N2.5 billion fundamental rights action to whip EFCC in line, is certainly grave and serious business. No less so is EFCC’s sensational counter-affidavit rebutting the learned silk’s averments. That certainly is a block buster response.
Is somebody, somewhere, in the two opposing camps, thinking of a legal koboko to whip sense into the other? Serious claims and counter-claims, there!
The opening manoeuvre certainly belongs to the SAN and learned company, all 34 of them (excluding the plaintiff), barging in, all learned glory, to institute Tarfa’s suit. He wants the court to compel EFCC to release his two mobile telephone handsets, “deceitfully” seized; release his Mercedes Benz SUV car in EFCC’s custody; write an apology to be published in at least two widely circulated newspapers, broadcast in two TV stations with national reach within 24 hours of securing judgment and publish it also in the social media, with its possibility of going viral.
Besides, to cure EFCC of its bully tactics and stiff-necked arrogance, the learned silk wanted the court to restrain EFCC from further violating his rights, fork out N20 million to pay his legal fees and, of course, award the princely N2.5 billion as compensation for breaching the liberty of a learned silk of many years standing on lawful duty.
But EFCC’s counter-blitzkrieg is no less stunning and formidable, with its counter-affidavit dripping with rather damaging allegations.
The EFCC claims Tarfa obstructed the lawful arrest of two Beniniose, Nazaire Sorou Gnanhoue and Modeste Finagnon, by keeping them in his car, between noon and 5pm, until its fuel ran out; and that the lawyer engaged in illicit text conversation with a judge to allegedly subvert justice. It also alleged the “bribing” of the judge with N225, 000, to which the judge allegedly responded with a text to thank the silk. On those allegations, EFCC averred it would rather hold on to both car and phone, since both were alleged exhibits, until the case was over.
But besides the instant case, EFCC alleged a pattern suggesting the lawyer had a record of systematic skewing the judicial processes: the lawyer’s chamber allegedly manipulating the court’s registry to hand cases to particular judges, telephone trails of the lawyer’s instruction to transfer money to “other public officers”, an alleged collection of $500, 000 from a client, “under the pretext that he was going to bribe some officials of EFCC”, an allegation of illicit donations at a book launch to induce the course of justice, and a reported but scoffed recommendation by a judge for the Lagos NBA to discipline the silk for alleged unprofessional practices.
This is heavy stuff! Whichever of the parties the koboko smites, EFCC or Tarfa, would stay smitten for a long time, if not forever!
This is why the court should not only do justice in this case; it must be transparently seen to have done so.
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