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Over 120 Anti-corruption Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have given the Inspector-General of Police a seven-day ultimatum to effect the court order that committed the chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, to prison for contempt.
They issued the ultimatum Friday in a town hall meeting, in Lagos, to round off their week-long protest against what they called “Politicisation of the EFCC, disobedience of court orders and infringement on human rights of Nigerians” under the leadership of Bawa.
According to them, though the first phase of the protest ended on Friday, the CSOs would jointly and individually petition relevant international agencies, demanding sanctions against Bawa until he becomes law abiding and serves his jail term.
The spokesperson for the Transparency and Accountability Group, Ayodeji Ologun, insisted that the EFCC boss could not appeal the contempt ruling without first obeying the order, saying the Nigerian authorities were dangerously toeing the path of anarchy with the incessant disobedience of court orders, especially by an agency set up to stamp out corruption.
He said the politicisation of the EFCC was evident in the slant of its operations, noting that while a series of petitions were piled up unattended at the EFCC offices on monumental corruption across Nigeria, the Commission’s boss had allegedly demonstrated that his task was mainly political vendetta.
The activists kicked strongly against the EFCC’s statement that they were hired CSOs, saying those on the struggle had been at the forefront of the fight against corruption for years and were well known for their doggedness and patriotism.
Also speaking, the director, Activists for Good Governance, Declan Ihehaire, said, “When Bawa was still hiding in his parents’ home, many of us here were already at the barricades fighting for democracy and the office he is enjoying today. Back then, nobody paid us to fight for justice. Whoever is saying we were paid to do this must be thoroughly examined. We are strictly activists, not political jobbers.
“We are saying President Buhari should sack Bawa and if he doesn’t sack him, we are sure that whoever is coming on board, come May 29, 2023, will listen to us and have Bawa sacked.”
The CSOs accused the EFCC of greater corruption and called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately put machinery in motion to sanitise the Commission so that the war against criminals and corrupt elements in Nigeria would make a difference.
“Go to the EFCC office today, there won’t be parking space. Most of them, who are police officers, drive different types of exotic cars that their colleagues who don’t work with EFCC cannot afford,” the spokesperson for the Coalition of Anti-corruption Organisations, Olufemi Lawson, said. (Blueprint)
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