A coalition of Northern Civil Society Organisations (CSO) and the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, on Sunday, joined those calling for the removal of the chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, saying he should either resign or be fired over alleged corrupt allegations.
In a statement on Sunday, the chairman of the Coalition of Arewa Civil Society Organisations, Adamu Aminu Musa, noted that Abdulrasheed Bawa’s resignation at this point in time is sacrosanct in order to save Nigeria’s reputation.
In the same vein, the Ohanaeze Youths said in a statement by its National President, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, the exit of Bawa has became necessary as the EFCC was drifting off its known credibility.
The Arewa coalition statement alleged that “the fourth executive chairman, Mr Bawa, has been at the centre of so many corruption allegations even before his appointment as the chairman, which was believed to be surrounded by so many controversies and mysteries.”
The statement added that Bawa operates like an emperor, using his office to intimidate, harass, and force people to do his bidding, including the banks, other government agencies, and innocent Nigerians, with the backing of his godfather.
Adamu Aminu Musa also alleged that Bawa forced Dr Bashir Yusuf Jamoh, Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) into sponsoring his family members to study abroad at the Centurion University of Technology and Management, Bhubaneswar, India.
Musa alleged that the EFCC chairman intimidated and harassed the NCC into giving his elder brother a job while he himself employed another member of his family in the EFCC’s Lagos Command.
In a statement by National President, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, the Ohanaeze Youths noted that the anti-graft agency has been drifting off its known credibility under Bawa: “This came to the fore when he unleashed the Commission on Senator Ike Ekweremadu, a victim of circumstance, who was then facing charges in the United Kingdom.
“The EFCC under Bawa has never charged Ekweremadu for any crime, but while the lawmaker was in far away UK, he rushed and misled a Nigerian court to confiscate all his properties. Thank God that the court later reversed itself. This is just one of the major unholy and sponsored jobs of the EFCC under Bawa.
“In the history of the EFCC, no chairman of the Commission has ever come under public scrutiny in such a short period of time like Bawa. The same goes for many of the staff under him, justifying the aphorism, ‘like father like son’.
“A few days ago, it was even reported that two of the staff members killed another colleague while they were fighting for exhibits. This shows how dirty the commission has become.
“Apart from the corruption fight taking a nosedive under Bawa, it is also no longer news that the EFCC under him has totally become a tool for political witchhunt, it is now merely being used to settle political scores.
“Based on the foregoing, it is time for Bawa to pack his luggages and step aside as the Chairman of the EFCC. We even expected that he should have resigned on his own volition judging by some weighty allegations against him.
“However, since he is not ready to toe the path of honour, we advise President Muhammadu Buhari to do the needful by purging his government of all the ridicule brought upon his avowed anti-corruption stance by Bawa and the EFCC under him.
“But should Buhari fail to do so, the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu should consider it as one of his very first assignments- to make Bawa step aside and face investigation. This is the only way Nigerians would rekindle their hope on the anti-graft commission.”