http://www.newsportng.com.ng Yoruba Youths have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to step in and investigate the Chairman, Economic and Financial Crime Commission EFCC to Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa.
The group made the appeal in a press statement signed by the National President of Yoruba Youths Council, Comrade Eric Oluwole, and made available to Journalists in Kaduna on thursday.
The group who alledged that the anti-graft agency has been prosecuting some eminent personalities in the country, without probing the people that are very close to him of allegations levelled against them, noted that there is need for the presidency to investigate the EFCC boss for the sake of equity, fairness and justice.
The council said that President Buhari’s intervention is necessary against the backdrop of another allegation trending in some online media that Bawa has failed to investigate a pending allegation of diversion of funds against the Director General of a federal agency because three of the EFCC chairman’s siblings were enjoying ‘scholarships’ from the DG who ought to have been investigated over alleged shady deals ranging from blatant corruption and diversion of public funds to abuse of office.
At a press briefing organised by the Centre for Public Accountability (CPA) and Civil Society Partners, on Wednesday, November 16, in Lagos, the Executive Director of CPA, Mr Olufemi Lawson reportedly called on President Buhari to step into the matter and direct the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, to take over that case to get to the root of the matter.
According to him, CPA was surprised that the said DG openly challenged the EFCC to investigate him and make public its findings, adding that after over a year, no action has been taken by the EFCC on the matter.
Lawson also disclosed that it was during the waiting period that the coalition stumbled on the possible reasons the allegations against the DG may have been swept under the carpet by the EFCC.
Besides, he said that some cases of alleged corruption that should have been concluded by the EFCC still remain inconclusive.
That civil society body also reportedly called on the National Assembly, especially the Senate, to ask the EFCC chairman to step aside, while a thorough investigation is carried out to unravel the mystery behind the ‘scholarships’ given to his siblings by the DG of this federal agency.
It urged President Buhari to order the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to take over and commence an investigation into the alleged corruption leveled against the said director general of the federal agency.
Also, the Yoruba Youths called on eminent Nigerians to speak up now against the alleged excesses of the EFCC boss “which we find condemnable, contemptuous and condemnable, before allowing him to pounce unexpectedly needlessly on the next victim who may be any other notable, hardworking, responsible highly placed Nigerian or any other.”
The statement, which said that Yoruba youths had been watching with disbelief and disappointment how the commission may have been encouraging those who really ought to be probed and persecuted in their unpatriotic deeds because of personal relationship as in the case above.
According to the statement: “Mr President, as father of the nation, should intervene urgently in this matter by calling the EFCC chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, to order, to tame his alleged excesses so that innocent eminent Nigerians are no longer unduly embarrassed and persecuted while the real corrupt and unpatriotic ones, due to personal relationship, are allowed to evade the law. President Buhari needs to do this as part of his legacy he is leaving behind as our dear Country needs men and women in large number, who are shining examples in their genuine efforts to serve to build a new Nigeria.”
The statement noted sadly Bawa’s alleged penchant for disregarding pronouncements by courts of competent jurisdiction in the country on the cases being handled by the commission, citing his recent indictment and committal to prison by the court over his alleged contempt, which was later vacated.
The statement noted that rather than serve as a lesson to him to slow down, reflect and sober up to esure that all the operations of the agency henceforth conform with the laws of the land, “Bawa is going ahead with his alarming impunity in his unwarranted persecution of eminent Nigerians.”
