Raid: Obasanjo library calls for N3.5bn, public apology from EFCC

The administration of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) has demanded ₦3.5 billion in compensation and a public apology from the Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee (EFCC) over the alleged invasion of its premises on Sunday.

In keeping with reviews, EFCC operatives stormed the library grounds, arrested 93 suspected web fraudsters, and seized 18 autos alongside a number of cell gadgets.

Talking throughout a press briefing in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, on Wednesday, Vitalis Ortese, Managing Director of OOPL, described the EFCC’s actions as “illegal” and “a direct assault on all the pieces this establishment stands for.”

Ortese condemned the operation as “an obvious invasion of a non-public property, an infringement of OOPL’s rights as a company citizen, and a stark and blatant violation of the rights of the individuals who gathered for the occasion.”

He careworn that the incident amounted to “an assault on what the establishment stands for and an assault on each rule of legislation that ought to be the information rail for democracy.”

OOPL’s calls for embody: A complete investigation into the incident, with findings publicly launched; a public apology printed in main nationwide newspapers; quick restitution for damages suffered by these arrested and whose autos had been seized, amounting to not less than ₦1 billion for bodily accidents to no fewer than 100 individuals and an extra ₦2.5 billion as a token of acknowledgment and atonement for reputational and monetary harm to the establishment, its enterprise, and its chief promoter, His Excellency, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

Ortese additionally criticised the “evident lack of inter-agency collaboration”, noting that law enforcement officials stationed on the OOPL premises had been neither revered nor included within the EFCC operation.

He warned that if the calls for weren’t met inside seven days—counting from Wednesday—the library’s administration would search authorized redress.

He emphasised that the occasions disrupted regular actions on the library:

“Households and worldwide vacationers had been holidaying. Entrepreneurs had been conducting enterprise. Youths had been organising musical exhibits and leisure occasions. These are the very expressions of creativity and productiveness we are supposed to encourage—not criminalise.”

Ortese stated the indiscretion of the operation had created concern amongst younger individuals attempting to earn official incomes, sending “the fallacious message—that creativity and enterprise are suspect, ambition is harmful, and public areas are unsafe.”

The OOPL administration confirmed it had engaged authorized counsel, safety consultants, and civil society companions to demand accountability, implement institutional respect, and shield the rights of patrons and employees.