Sequel to petition against the Director General of the Nigerian Agency For Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhii alleging acts of corruption and financial mismanagement, a coalition of 14 civil societies has risen against what it terms false allegations and fifth columnists.
The Civil Societies who came under the aegis of African Arise for Change Network who condemned the recent allegations leveled on the DG of NAFDAC said their decision to support the anti-corruption fight of the present administration has thus spurred them to raise the alarm over fifth columnists who are already positioning to truncate the gains of change.
Speaking for the coalition the Secretary General Mr. Samson Bello lamented that unfortunately, the plan of such groups are couched to mislead Nigerians into thinking such individuals behind them are against corruption while the reverse is the case.
“Chief, among their strategy is to use disgruntled elements within government offices, agencies and parastatals to pose as whistle blowers to media house and consequently send operatives of anti-corruption agencies on wild goose chase. The anticipated end result of this scheme is to overwhelm the EFCC, ICPC and Police FIU with frivolous petitions whose investigation would spread operatives thin thereby rendering them ineffective”. He exposed further.
According to Bello the saboteurs have scored their first hit with their sponsored group of protesters that on Tuesday staged a march towards the EFCC headquarters to demand the resignation of the Chairman of the Commission simply for doing his statutory job and declining to be engaged for witch hunting.
The group further revealed that the target of the protest was the Director General of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii, whom he said despite the standard to which he has globally raised NAFDAC to as a reliable regulator of food and drug administration, which has helped to boost the economy as many now see reasons to rely on made in Nigeria goods and commodities.
The anti-corruption crusaders said their investigation into the matter revealed that the petitioners’ plank rests on the petition by a whistle blower who only started his crusade of righteousness after an internal re-organisation moved him from his erstwhile “juicy” position in the agency. The re-organisation was in turn the product of when staff realized that the celebrated whistle-blower has an agenda to amass wealth for himself while the DG was been busy working round the clock to improve on the high standard he met at NAFDAC.
“Our greater worry is however about the impact that such frivolous petition would have on the ability of Nigerians firms to export their produce at a time the nation is looking to diversifying its revenue base. The stories online about the petition have been dispersed in cyberspace and any search about made in Nigeria goods will return results that will suggest that the regulatory framework is corrupt contrary to the reality on ground.
The allegation also have the potential to distract the anti-corruption crusade as the relevant agencies could soon become wary of chasing shadows when they found out that many of the petitions and demands by agitating groups are unfounded. There is also the ugly aspect of national productivity plummeting as jobbers and conmen use anti-graft agencies to harass and distract well-meaning chief executive officers of government agencies”. They lamented further.
Meanwhile the Coalition has called on the EFCC, NAFDAC and by extension all Nigeria to disregard the distractions constituted by the protesting groups as well as the sponsored petitions by their sponsors, however recommending that these two institutions and the others to be targeted by these saboteurs should renew their commitment to a changed Nigeria by continuing to diligently do their work.