The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says allegations by Bala Mohammed, the Bauchi governor, that the agency is being used by political opponents to harass him and officials of his administration are unfounded.
In a statement posted on its official X handle on Friday, the anti-graft agency described the claims as ‘wild’ and ‘far-fetched’, insisting that it operates independently.
The commission was reacting to comments credited to Mohammed, who alleged that political interests, particularly Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory, were using the EFCC against him.
‘The EFCC is an independent agency created to fight economic and financial crimes’, the statement read.
‘The commission is non-partisan and discharges its mandate without affection or ill will.
‘The attempt to portray it as a pliable agency that panders to the demands of certain political interests is therefore mischievous and condemnable’.
The EFCC said it was ‘derogatory’ for the governor to link its operations in Bauchi state to the influence of any political office holder.
‘It is derogatory for Mohammed to ascribe the commission’s activities in Bauchi State to the influence of Mr Wike’, the statement added.
‘It is important to state that no political office holder is in a position to influence the investigative activities of the commission.
‘If Bala Mohammed wants to be honest, he would have revealed to Nigerians that he was standing trial for money laundering at the time he won election as governor of Bauchi state.
‘Only the constitutional immunity from prosecution, which his current office attracts, has put that case in abeyance.
‘Who also influenced the commission to investigate him in 2016 and charge him to court?’
On cases involving some Bauchi state government officials, the EFCC said the details had already been filed before the courts and were open to public scrutiny.
‘It is the height of hypocrisy for opposition politicians to be quick to scream persecution each time an opposition figure is called to account but are mute when a member of the ruling party faces the same ordeal’, the anti-graft agency said.
‘Recently, the commission arraigned a ranking member of the ruling party in court for alleged corruption, and not a whimper of persecution was heard from any of the political divide.
‘Crying wolf over issues of terrorism financing is like clutching at straws. The Commission did not invent the law, and where there are offences punishable by extant laws, EFCC will be failing in its responsibility to do otherwise’.
The EFCC urged the Bauchi governor to concentrate on governance and allow the agency to carry out its mandate of sanitising the country’s financial system.
Mohammed had earlier accused the EFCC of political persecution following legal actions against some officials of his administration, which he claimed were meant to pressure him into defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
