Anti-corruption civil society organisations, yesterday, urged the chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, to refrain from allowing “cankerworm of the previous management left in the system” to rubbish his credentials as the head of the commission.
They advised the EFCC boss to sit up and stop the commission from being accessed by “political miscreants who think EFCC is an extension of their political structures to be manipulated at will.”
They specifically referred to the Kogi State government’s press statement, which was released on Wednesday, alerting the public to an alleged fresh move by the commission to witch-hunt the ex-governor with spurious claims for political reasons.
The activists pointed out that the crux of the latest persecution, going by the EFCC’s amended charge sheet, which featured ex-Governor Bello’s name, showed a clear case of desperation for spurious claims to whip up public sentiment against the target, adding that any litigation on corruption founded on political conspiracy would always have no merits to pursue it.
“While we stand solidly behind any credible anti-corruption drive, we, however, oppose and condemn unequivocally any and all corruption allegations with the trappings and trademarks of political victimization as this Kogi case clearly seems to be,” they declared.
They described the latest amended charge as extremely embarrassing, saying, “A Court document at our disposal submitted to the Court by EFCC is alleging that the former Governor and his nephew, one Ali Bello, converted Kogi State’s money to the tune of over Eighty Billion Naira since September 2015!
“This looks like a hurriedly prepared amendment targeted at an individual without paying much attention whatsoever to facts. Except the Commission is able to prove before the court that the duo had been involved in financial transactions with Kogi State money before Yahaya Bello assumed office in January 2016 as Kogi State governor, then they have a lot of questions to answer Nigerians.
“This is always how bad-intentioned and politically motivated allegations are exposed and it smacks of a profound dearth of professionalism on the part of the EFCC. If they come up with a nebulous excuse of typographical error, this further exposes their lack of professionalism and calls to question the competency of the EFCC leadership and legal team/department,” the activists noted.
They vowed to expose political actors behind the incessant EFCC political victimization, stating, “We are working with others across the country and we are ready to expose those behind this witch hunting and also expose their dirty dealings which have continued to undermine the current administration’s efforts at economic revitalization to the public.”
