Some anti-corruption activists have backed a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) over the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s case against a nephew of Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello and previous N20 billion bail-out controversies.
According to them, the Commission’s recent actions portray it as a “compromised political tool”.
The activists include the Centre for Anti-corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), Centre for Public Accountability, Coalition Against Corruption and Bad Governance, Africa Labour Research Centre, and Secureworld and Liberty Initiative for Peace, among others.
They urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call the EFCC to order and move to save the image of the government as regards its commitment to an unbiased war against corruption.
Agbokoba had at the weekend accused the EFCC of lawlessness, arguing that it has no power under the law to probe a state’s finances, a claim the agency faulted.
The anti-graft agency, in a statement on Monday by its Head, Media & Publicity Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, described the developmental lawyer’s comments as “indecorous and utterly irresponsible.”
It vowed that no amount of intimidation and sponsored attacks will deter the Commission from investigating cases of corruption at any level of government, or involving any individual, saying Agbakoba deliberately ignored laws “which give the Commission power to investigate all fraud cases.”
But backing Agbakoba, the activists singled out what they described as unending persecution of the Kogi State Government, adding that the EFCC’s job was not tidy as, in their view, it had given the impression that there was a political axe to grind with the state beyond the mandate of the Commission.
In a statement titled, “EFCC Must Stop Acting Like a Compromised Political Tool”, the activists claimed that there were numerous instances where the Commission had shown itself to be outrageously selective in its investigations, arrests, and prosecutions.
They said, “We unequivocally stand with Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, in his observations and call on the EFCC to review its operational methods in a way that will not compromise its founding principle.
“It must eschew every manner of political patronage and manipulation, which are bound to destroy its public perception locally and internationally. The Kogi issue that Dr. Agbakoba, SAN, alluded to is one case too many. There is a strong suspicion that EFCC has a particular interest to cause chaos in Kogi State by its unnecessary and reprehensible fixation on the state and its affairs.”
“We call on the EFCC to shed its political toga and concentrate on its constitutional mandate of fighting corruption and leave politics to politicians. We call on President Muhammadu Buhari to call the EFCC to order before it destroys the impressive achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari in the area of fighting corruption, which is acknowledged as unprecedented even by his most vehement critics,” they noted.
Those who signed the statement on behalf of their various organizations include the Executive Chairman, Centre For Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, Debo Adeniran; Chairman, Secureworld and Liberty Initiative for Peace and Co-National Spokesperson of the Coalition of United Political Parties, Comrade Mark Adebayo; Executive Director, Africa Labour Research Centre, Biodun Sowunmi; Executive Director, Centre For Public Accountability, Comrade Olufemi Lawson, and a legal practitioner, Barr. Emeka Igwe.
Other signatories are Comrade Toyin Raheem, Chairman, Coalition Against Corruption and Bad Governance, CACOBAG; Comrade Akinbiyi Omoleye, Secretary, Zero Corruption Movement, ZECOM; and Comrade Ishola Adeshina, Kill Corruption Coalition, among others.
Source: The Nation
