Legal practitioner, Inibehe Effiong has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to release an advert executive, Baron Nnamdi.

Nnamdi was arrested over an “offensive 2023 election messages” on two billboards in Enugu State.

In a statement, Effiong said the reasons given by the EFCC for their action “are baseless, false and legally unfounded”.

The lawyer declared that the use of the logo or name of the commission is in itself not a criminal offence.

He insisted that there is no Section of the (Establishment) Act, 2004 that makes the mere use of the name or logo a criminal offence.

Effiong said by Section 24 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), citizens have a constitutional duty to assist law enforcement agencies in the discharge of their functions.

He advised the EFCC to encourage, and not penalize or persecute citizens, who engage in rigorous public enlightenment campaigns against economic and financial crimes.

“In essence, the Concerned Enugu Citizens in Scotland who sponsored the adverts are only discharging their constitutional duty. The message in the billboards is patriotic and timely.

“What offence has the advertisement executive committed to warrant his arrest by the EFCC?”, he quipped.

Effiong told the commission that “Offensive EFCC Campaign Adverts” as alluded to by the EFCC is not an offence known to law in Nigeria.

He urged the commission to immediately release the advertisement executive, publicly apologize to him, and pay him adequate compensation for the malicious damage to his billboards.

“The Commission should arrest the corrupt politicians in Enugu State and the rest of the country who are using stolen public funds to promote their insatiable political campaigns and ambition”, the statement added.