The campaign to remove Abdulrasheed Bawa as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC, due to allegations of politicization of the organization, disobedience of court orders, and violation of Nigerians’ human rights, among other things, has been relaunched by no fewer than 130 frontline anti-corruption civil society organizations, or CSOs.
Joined by 20 Constitutional lawyers led by Mogbojuri Kayode of the Citizens Rights Advocacy Group, CRAG, the CSOs claimed the desperation of the EFCC chairman to remain in office had taken a laughable turn, insisting that no amount of “purchased CSOs’ vote of confidence” would cover the truth about the abnormalities being condoned in EFCC under its current leadership.
At a joint press conference in Lagos yesterday, they alleged that the EFCC had become so desperate to launder what they called a rapidly diminishing image of Bawa, to the extent that the Commission recently issued a press release, informing Nigerians that a CSO had passed a vote of confidence in its chairman.
“Is not the job of the media to see that and independently report?” they asked.
The Anti-corruption activists, however, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for bailing the country out of what they described as a Judicial quagmire “by dissociating the Presidency from any act of disobedience to court orders and making the Central Bank of Nigeria comply with a Supreme Court order that extended the validity of old naira notes till December 31, 2023.”
“As this is expected to ease the pain of the masses, we hereby call on the President to also wade into the seeming fixation of the EFCC on certain individuals and the desperation of the Chairman of the Commission to score cheap political goals through unwarranted media trials of non-convicted individuals in the country. He should direct Mr. Bawa to step aside until he purges himself of contempt as ruled by a High Court,” Spokesperson for the Coalition, Olufemi Lawson, said in a speech delivered on behalf of the activists.
Chairman, Centre for Anti-corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, Debo Adeniran, noted that his organization had, from the outset, alerted the National Assembly to the fact that Bawa was unfit for the post of EFCC chairman, over alleged corrupt practices and his rumoured relationship with the Attorney-General of the Federation who was believed to have masterminded the travails and eventually removal of Bawa’s predecessor, Ibrahim Magu.
According to him, Bawa’s alleged misconduct in office is a confirmation of CACOL’s fears of his being a misfit for the position.
