Law Firm Petitions EFCC Chairman, Demands Removal Of Clients Photo From Commission’s Social Media Page
A law firm, O.J. Aboje & Co., has petitioned the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),Olu Olukayode demanding the immediate removal of photographs and identities of two of its clients Mrs. Folasade Oketope, Chairperson of the Ad-Hoc Committee for the Sale of Federal Government Houses in Abuja, and Mr. Mohammed Kabir Usman, an official of the FCT Administration seconded to the committee published on Tue Commission Social Media pages and other News platforms.
The photographs were published on the commission’s social media handles following their arraignment before the Federal Capital Territory High Court on July 13,2026 over disputed properties.
However, In the petition addressed to the EFCC Chairman, dated July 27, the law firm argued that the criminal proceedings were instituted while a separate civil suit challenging the ownership and sale of the disputed properties was still pending before the FCT High Court.
The lawyers also faulted the commission for publishing the names and photographs of the defendants after their arraignment, arguing that the action violated their constitutional right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The petition stated that, We are befuddled by the conduct of the Commission and its operatives in publishing the faces and names of our clients when your Commission did not seek and obtain the leave/permission of the Court before which our clients were arraigned to make the disparaging publication that cast an aura of criminality on our clients when our clients have not been found by the Court to be guilty of the crimes for which they were arraigned.
The statement further asked that”Would your Commission tender an apology and retract the offending publications when our clients are, ultimately, adjudged innocent of the crimes for which they were arraigned?”
The lawyers urged the EFCC Chairman to direct that the publications be removed from all platforms pending the conclusion of the trial.
According to the petition, “We urge you… to direct that the offending publications be taken down from all spaces wherein they were published to allow the trial processes to take place and if our clients are found guilty, the Commission can publish their faces and names to the whole world as having been found guilty.”
The law firm argued that removing the publications would uphold “common decency and the rule of law” while preserving the integrity of the judicial process and the constitutional presumption of innocence.
