EFCC Accused Of Shielding Buhari's Associates From Probe

The chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu has been accused of shielding President Muhammadu Buhari’s associates from probe.

EFCC Boss, Ibrahim Magu

The allegation was made by the Ekiti Justice Group (EJG) who accused Magu of ignoring petitions against chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

According to The Cable, the group described as “shameless falsehood”, the assurances of the EFCC boss that the commission did not have any petition against APC leaders, else it would have gone after them.

The group said: ”It is on record that petitions were submitted to the EFCC office in Abuja against former governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, by the State Government and concerned groups.”

Speaking on the allegation which have been coming up for a while, Magu recently said: “Such accusations have come up a lot, but, we work with petitions before us, in fact, I am eager and waiting for something from the other side, but nothing has come so far.”

In reaction to Magu’s words, EJG through a statement by its national secretary, Ebenezer Olaleye,  said it was on record that the Save Ekiti Coalition (SEC) wrote a petition dated September 26, 2014 to the EFCC and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), and the petition was submitted in Abuja on September 29, 2014.

Narrating its experience further, the group said the state government even wrote a letter to EFCC in September 2015, reminding the commission of its petition.

The EJG said: ”It is a clear confirmation of EFCC partisanship for Magu to claim ignorance of the SEC petition duly received by the commission with attached documents on September 29, 2014.

”The EFCC chairman should rather come clean and tell Nigerians that under the President Mohammadu Buhari-led APC government, only those opposed to the federal government must be presented as corrupt while APC chieftains who are supporting the president can never be corrupt even if there is evidence that they stole their states blind.” 

Meanwhile, the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said it was wrong to assume that the party was against President Muhammadu Buahri’s anti-corruption war.

Alhaji Ibrahim Jalo, the deputy national publicity secretary of the PDP said the party was not against the prosecution of those who looted funds meant for the purchase of arms in the war against Boko Haram insurgency.

According to him rather than tarnish the party’s name, those guilty of looting the nation’s funds should be properly punished to serve as a deterrent to others.

Among those currently facing different charges before different courts in Abuja are the acting chairman of the BoT of the party, Alhaji Haliru Bello; a former governor of Sokoto state, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa; a former minister of state for finance, Amb. Bashir Yuguda; and the founder of Daar Communications Plc, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi.

Also, Chief Olisa Metuh, the national publicity secretary of the party is currently being detained by the EFCC over alleged corruption. On Tuesday, January 5, officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission stormed his Abuja home and whisked him away.

Source: Naij.com