Victor Ezeja
Executive Director, Corruption Observatory, Ivie Richards, has called on President Bola Tinubu to tell Nigerians the offence of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdurasheed Bawa, who was suspended on Wednesday.
Mr Richards said the president needed to reveal the allegations levelled against Bawa to avoid giving room to speculations that it could be mere witch-hunt.
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Prime Business Africa reports that the President on Wednesday, suspended the EFCC chairman indefinitely, over “weighty allegations” levelled against him by stakeholders in the anti-corruption fight.
A statement signed by Willie Bassey, Director of Information, office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, released on Wednesday night, said the suspension which is indefinite is to allow for a proper investigation into his conduct while in office.
Subsequently, Abdulkarim Chukkol, Director of Operations at the EFCC has been directed to take over as chairman of the Commission in acting capacity.
Reacting to the suspension, Richards an anti-corruption expert, who appeared on Channels Television Sunrise Daily on Thursday morning, said the statement announcing the suspension of Bawa was very brief and should have clearly stated the allegations against him that were being investigated for Nigerians to know.
“For the EFCC Chairman to be suspended indefinitely, Nigerians need to know the grevious offences committed so that you don’t give room to speculations of retribution,” Richards said.
“It’s official that before this president won election, he was under investigation and a number of times, Bawa did say so. Even the current Senate President was under investigation.
“So, in order not to make room for speculations, if you say he has committed grievious offences, those offences should be laid out. Nigerians want to know, so that it would not be like we are walking into what we might describe as legal corruption,” he added.
He said there is need for constitutional review regarding the law establishing the EFCC and the office of the Chairman to have laid-down procedure for his appointment and security of tenure to avoid arbitrary dismissal.
“We need some kind of deliberate reform in the founding documentation of the Commission, whether EFCC or ICPC such that it becomes almost impossible for one single party to wake up and say look, we no longer like your face, take a bow and leave.”
He noted that Nigeria needs strong institutional framework to tackle corruption which has become endemic.
Richards further argued that despite the claims by the anti-graft agencies of heavily fighting corruption, no significant improvement has been recorded. He said there may be a lot of convinctions recorded by the anti-graft agencies, but they do not translate to significant success in the fight against corruption.
He stressed that authorities should put in place standard anti-corruption system that makes it almost impossible for people, especially public officials to indulge in corrupt activities without being caught and prosecuted.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
