Frontline anti-corruption activists have risen in support of the position of a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), against what they described as politicisation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The anti-corruption activists said the commission’s recent actions, especially against the Kogi state government, portray it as a “compromised political tool.”
The activists, who are leaders of various frontline anti-corruption organisations, including Centre for Anti-corruption and Open Leadership, Centre for Public Accountability, Coalition Against Corruption and Bad Governance, Africa Labour Research Centre, and Secureworld and Liberty Initiative for Peace, among others, specifically called on President Muhammadu Buhari to call the EFCC to order and move to save the image of the government as regards its commitment to an unbiased war against corruption.
Singling out what they described as an unending persecution of the Kogi state government, the activists said the EFCC’s job was not tidy as it had given a loud impression that there was a political axe to grind with the state beyond the mandate of the commission.
In a statement, jointly signed by them and titled, “EFCC Must Stop Acting Like a Compromised Political Tool”, the activists insisted that there were numerous instances where the commission had shown itself to be outrageously selective in its investigations, arrests and prosecutions.
Those who signed the statement on behalf of their various organisations include: Executive Chairman, Centre For Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), Debo Adeniran; Chairman, Secureworld and Liberty Initiative for Peace and Co-National Spokesperson of the Coalition of United Political Parties, Comrade Mark Adebayo; Executive Director, Africa Labour Research Centre, Biodun Sowunmi; Executive Director, Centre For Public Accountability, Comrade Olufemi Lawson, and a legal practitioner, Barr. Emeka Igwe.
Other signatories are: Comrade Toyin Raheem, Chairman, Coalition Against Corruption and Bad Governance, CACOBAG; Comrade Akinbiyi Omoleye, Secretary, Zero Corruption Movement, ZECOM; and Comrade Ishola Adeshina, Kill Corruption Coalition, among others.
