The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, yesterday said that the agency would not spare corrupt officers in the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.
He said that the era of impunity is over in the country as EFCC under his watch would be a “leveler”.
Magu, who made the submissions in a paper titled “This Is Our Chance” at the Symposium organised by members of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers (NADL) in Lagos, said: “In the past, it was so easy to simply wring our hands in self-pity and console ourselves that we had done our best and if others elect not do theirs, we were not to blame. That, however, was in the past.
“The EFCC under my watch has had no choice than to challenge certain senior lawyers, judges and other judicial officers against who we have collected concrete evidence for perverting the course of justice.
“Today is a new dawn at the EFCC. We have resolved to call out anybody who is corrupt, anybody who is an enemy of the Nigerian people, be he or she in the executive, legislative or judicial arms of government. Our anti-corruption mandate, which we insist on enforcing to the letter, is a leveller.
“There is no better time than now in Nigeria, to say, ‘Enough is Enough!’ President Muhammadu Buhari has not only said it, he is acting it and has charged the EFCC to embody and live it.
“I have therefore pledged that on my watch, where hapless Nigerians are defrauded, EFCC will swiftly come to their aid; where powerless Nigerians are short-changed, EFCC will intervene and where there is impunity, EFCC will step in and level the field.”
He expresse+d regrets that some rogue elements in the Bar had been trying to undermine the anti-graft war. He said: “We at the EFCC have been in close working relationship and partnership with a number of the majority of legal practitioners who are upright and their professionalism can be vouched for at any time.
“However, in the course of confronting the corruption monster, we consistently run up against a gang of rogue elements, who not only frustrate the work that we are doing but also give a terrible name to the bar and bench and hapless Nigerians have been the worse for it.
“The biggest form of corruption is not the ones you find in government offices or banks; it is not the ones plaguing the oil industry or pension administration. The biggest, most virulent form of corruption that ever existed is the one that has eaten deep into the fabric of the Temple of Justice.
“It is to you who minister in the temple of justice that we all run to, high or low, mighty or weak, lawmakers, law breakers and law enforcers. It is to the courts that we all run, for protection.
“However, we are all witnesses to the abuse of skills, knowledge, powers, position and privileges by a few rogue elements, who, whilst being a tiny fraction, have an outsized influence on the direction of the Nigerian judiciary and indeed, the Nigerian nation.”
Magu, who said the EFCC does not lay claim to perfection, said the agency had been working within the Rule of Law.
He added: “It is common to hear people agitate over what they term the ‘immense’ powers of the EFCC. Let it be made clear, however, that at the Commission, we endeavour to make our actions fall strictly within the bounds of the Rule of Law.
“Having said that, being human, we do not claim perfection or the monopoly of knowledge. Therefore, we take corrections whenever our mistakes are pointed out to us. We will, however, not stand idly while Nigerians are held hostage by the twin evil forces of corruption and impunity.
“It is important to note that what has made the EFCC to stand out from every other law enforcement agency in Africa are our conviction, commitment and professionalism, backed by the unshaken support of ordinary Nigerians. Notwithstanding the perception that the Commission is all-powerful, we are also prone to certain dangers in the course of discharging our mandate. The EFCC is also a victim of its string of successes and some unscrupulous people are always scheming to appropriate the functions and powers of the Commission.
“It may have been well if it were all for the good of the country, but as history has taught us, the undue interest shown by certain powerful forces in the powers, jurisdiction and actions of the EFCC are only self-serving and nefarious and run contrary to the good of the vast majority of Nigerians.”
He begged Nigerians to resist dark forces working against EFCC. He said: “When these dark forces gather (as they have), our expectation is that bodies such as the National Association of Democratic Lawyers would rise, without any further prompting, and come to our rescue. The tug-and-pull for the soul of the EFCC aptly mirrors that for the control of the destiny of our dear nation.
“Whilst we may not claim omniscience, one thing we are convinced of in the Commission is that Nigeria will be doomed if we fail to win the war on corruption. “President Buhari has warned, ‘We must kill corruption before it kills Nigeria’. That is a clarion call to arms.”
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