Over 40 anti-corruption civil society organisations (CSOs) have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Abdulrasheed Bawa for disobeying court orders.
According to the CSOs, his actions do not only undermine the institutions of Nigeria’s democracy, but also indicate a contradiction to the anti-corruption agenda of the president.
Blueprint reports that a Kogi State High Court sitting in Lokoja, Monday, had ordered that the chairman of EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, be committed to prison for disobeying court order.
However, EFCC Head, Media & Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, in a press statement in Abuja, said the commission had filed a motion seeking for a stay of execution of the judgment, Tuesday.
The bodies, led by the Chairman, Centre for Anti-corruption and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran; Executive Director, Zero Graft Centre, Kolawole Sanchez-Jude; Chairman, Coalition Against Corruption and Bad Governance, Toyin Raheem; Executive Director, Centre for Public Accountability, Olufemi Lawson; and Ahmed Balogun of Media Rights Concern, among others, spoke at a press conference, themed: “EFCC’s Consistent Disobedience of Court Orders is a Recipe for Anarchy; A Call For The Immediate Sack of Mr. AbdulRasheed Bawa”.
Other leaders include Ologun Ayodeji, Transparency and Accountability Group; Declan Ihehaire, Activists for Good Governance; and Ochiaga Jude, Centre for Ethics and Good Governance, among others.
According to the anti-graft bodies, aside from the EFCC’s penchant for disobedience of court orders, the situation has reached an embarrassing height where the commission’s boss, Bawa, has been committed to prison more than once within two months for clear breach of the extant orders of the court.
They said, “EFCC’s Gestapo-style regime of disobeying court orders must stop. Nigeria is not a banana republic. Attempts by institutions of state to ridicule the country and make it seem like a lawless fiefdom must be resisted by all. The EFCC seems to be allowing itself to be used as an instrument of political witchunt as it targets some individuals more than many others.
“Some of our organizations have submitted several petitions to the Commission, which it has refused to act on even when you sit with them to reason on the merits of those petitions. Once there is a political interest the whole processes of investigation and litigation become politicised.
“This culture of impunity as consistently exhibited by the EFCC Chairman continues to ridicule Nigeria in the comity of nations and sabotage efforts at attracting foreign direct investment. Investors only go to jurisdictions where the rule of law and respect for human rights are guaranteed while shunning countries where ‘rule of men’ predominate,” they added.
