Norah Okafor, a journalist based in Aba, Abia State, has lamented the night invasion of her house by officers of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).

In a post on her Facebook page, Okafor said the operatives appeared in front of her house at exactly 1:36am on Thursday and forced their way in through the electric fence surrounding the compound.

“I was alerted by my brother that there were armed robbers at my gate,” she narrated. “I didn’t border because I felt they couldn’t make their way in, due to the electric fence surrounding our compound. I was wrong. They came prepared.”

Okafor, looking through her window, watched a huge officer climb the fence and cut the electric wire. Before she could dress up, the operatives hacked the front door and barged into the house.

“The next thing I realised was that about seven of them were already in my room, shouting ‘Lie down,’ ‘Face down,’ ‘Where is your phone?'” She said.

“Seeing over 25 hefty men with different kinds of guns, I handed the phone to them with the car keys. By then, they had already taken my laptop. At this time, they had given my brother the beating of his life.

“They went out and unlocked all the cars. After searching through the phones and laptops, three of them came in and that was when we realised they were (the) EFCC.”

After spending up to one hour in the house, the operatives asked for the occupant’s occupation.

“I said I was a journalist. They asked my neighbour. He said ‘lawyer’, and they asked the other; he said ‘doctor’. They looked at me, handed over the phone, and said they just wasted their time.”

FIJ placed several calls to the EFCC, but they were not answered. Messages sent to the commission’s telephone and email also got no response.