Governor Matawalle urge the EFCC to investigate after Buhari's cabinet official members. Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle has inst...
Governor Matawalle urge the EFCC to investigate after Buhari's cabinet official members.
Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle has instructed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to include members of the departing Federal Executive Council (FEC) and officers of the Presidency in the scope of its inquiry.
Matawalle stated this in reaction to Abdulrasheed Bawa, the anti-graft agency's chairman, who recently claimed that the EFCC had called all departing governors and commissioners for inquiry.
Matawalle thought that people working at the Presidential Villa should also be included in the investigation in addition to departed governors and commissioners.
In addition, he encouraged the head of the EFCC to make sure that the probe was not politicized and that all those found to be corrupt were prosecuted.
My attention has been drawn to a statement attributed to Malam Abdulrasheed Bawa, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, in which he claimed to have invited all departing Governors and Commissioners in an effort to launch an investigation into claims of corruption and abuse of power committed by them while in office.
"While this is appropriate and laudable, political office holders must be held accountable for their acts while in office, and the EFCC is endowed with the authority of investigation, this power must be used carefully.
The investigation must be comprehensive and not biased. In this regard, the EFCC Chair's most recent invitations and statements are unbalanced, deficient, disingenuous, and unduly slanted.
"If Malam Bawa is genuinely committed to an anti-corruption crusade, then this is harmful to the crusade itself.
The investigation should be comprehensive and include all personnel in an effort to address the blatant knowledge gap and inertia displayed by the EFCC Chair.
"I demand that the EFCC chair send such invites to members of the Federal Executive Council and officers of the Presidency, which is the highest level of administration in the nation.
"As I and some distinguished Nigerians have proof of his and the commission he leads engaging in corrupt practices, betraying the public's confidence, and abusing their positions of authority.
He could clarify, for example, how he took on the roles of the plaintiff, prosecutor, and jury and how he carried out his particular style of plea bargaining with suspected criminals and saboteurs of the Nigerian economy and agenda who, instead of being placed on trial, are free to roam the country.
"We will only take the EFCC Chair seriously when he acts in this manner and extends an invitation that is inclusive, non-discriminatory, and open to all.
"Only then would serious-minded officials who have selflessly and meritoriously served the people and are not opposed to an audit of their books take him seriously, and in fact, Nigerians generally do.
Without this, all that would happen is that another member of the government, who already faces accusations of corruption, sleaze, and abuse of power, would ask others to answer for their actions, providing Nigerians with only lighthearted relief from the difficult times they are currently going through.
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