- As lawyers push for prosecutorial power for govt agencies
By Henry Uche, Lagos
Human and Environmental Development Agenda, HEDA along with a number of Civil Society leaders have jointly decried the recent attacks on the person and office of the Leader of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa.
The position of these advocacy groups in support of the EFCC boss was expressed at a forum by HEDA Resource Centre to assess the performance of Buhari’s administration in the fight against corruption between 2015, when he took up the reins of government till date.
Though these critics and analysts were diverse in their perceptions of Bawa as in individual, and the EFCC as an agency of government, many of the opinions expressed were in favour of the man, whose assignment, they all agreed and described as horrendous.
Veteran journalist and free society crusader, Mr. Richard Akinola went down the memory lane to ask a damning poser, “Who has ever headed EFCC and came out unperturbed?”
According to Mr. Akinola,, “The immediate past chairman of the anti corruption agency, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, worked so well to be the darling of anti corruption society in Nigeria, but he didn’t get a fair deal from his employer – The government.
“Let us look back from Nuhu Ribadu to Farida, to Namode and to Magu, each of these characters did their best to nib corruption in the bud, but it appears the very corrupt personalities and principalities at the corridors of power fought back; Akinola argued.
“For any class of people to seek the removal of the current head of EFCC is quite unnecessary now. I suspect, these campaigns are again being sponsored by the very aforementioned corrupt personalities, and it’s high time they were all investigated,” he asseverated.
The occasion was filled with activists with persuasions; political scholars, economists, legal and media analysts. Each and all of these social crusaders say that the current boss of EFCC must be allowed to complete his mandatory term in office, particularly as he has been adjudged a dynamic young man who is able to give the EFCC a sustainable roadmap to tackle endemic corruption in Nigeria.
Lawyers in the midst like Effionge Inibie, defence attorney from Akwa Ibom and Abiodun Olowu of the Quintessence Law Centre, Lagos advocated that prosecutorial power be given to government agencies like the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). They argued that the provisions of the FIFTH SCHEDULE of 1999 constitution CFRN, which establishes the CCB and CCT be enhanced in scope and operations. According to them, conflict of interest among Chief Executive Officers in public and private institutions is the root of corruption in Nigeria.
HEDA chairman, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju, who corroborated this view, promised that his organization would intensify its training and workshops to promote inter – agency cooperation in the fight against corruption. According to Suraju, “The role of non- state actors is another phenomenon that genuine anti – corruption crusaders should study critically”. “These non- state actors come in varying shades and characters. Some of them are sponsored agitators by these corrupt personalities close to the corridors of power,” he maintained.
Some of the CSOs at the session were: Rennaisance Group, Youth for Change Initiative, Space Against Corruption and Injustice, Progressive Volunteers, War Against Child, Sexual and Physical Abuse (WACSPA Foundation).
Others are: Nigerian Human Rights Community (NHRC), Echoes of Women in Africa, Ideal Society, Civil Society Coalition for Mandate and Centre for Human and Socio-Economic Rights (CHSR).