…Say Corrupt Politicians Behind Calls For His Removal
A coalition of civil society organizations, CSOs, No Corruption Mandate, NCM, has come out in full support of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, insisting that corrupt politicians under intense investigation by the anti-graft agency are behind the call for the removal of anti-corruption tzar.
Urging both the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari and incoming Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu administrations to ignore “ignore senseless noise” by disgruntled activists, who are being sponsored by corrupt politicians against Bawa.
It equally vowed that it is going to defend Bawa at all costs.
The group stated this in a press statement signed by its convener, Onyekachi Immanuel, in Abuja on Friday, stating that “we have been observing the relentless campaign of calumny against the EFCC Chairman, our amiable and hardworking Bawa Abdulrasheed. Since he became the chairman of EFCC, as the youngest and most experienced anti-corruption operative to head the agency, Bawa has distinguished himself as a creative, incorruptible and digitally savvy corruption investigator.”
The statement added, “His unprecedented success records are the envy of his predecessors and scares the shit out of corrupt politicians who have been trapped by effective and vigilant net of the EFCC under Bawa. His professionalism in discovering and exposing corrupt governors and other corrupt politicians, including his refusal to be bribed by them has infuriated them and they are looking for ways to blackmail him into silence. We will stand by him by mobilizing all our member organizations across the country to counter the nefarious campaigns sponsored against Bawa and his team by rogues in government.
“As we were wondering who could be behind all these shameful protests against Bawa, a governor who is said to be under investigation by the commission to tune of billions of naira suddenly came out of nowhere recently asking Bawa to resign. May be those he hired are not doing the job to his satisfaction. Now it is very clear to Nigerians where the attacks against the EFCC and its chairman are coming from.
“He had been exposing them and doing his duty diligently. He had brought many reforms into the EFCC, one of which was the intelligence unit he created, which discovered that a governor in the North Central geopolitical zone illegally withdrew a huge amount of N60 billion in cash from his state’s account for personal use. Many more have been discovered and exposed this way. Many of these corrupt people are now behind the calls to hang Bawa. What is most painful is that many Nigerians seem to believe them, because of the caliber of activists that have been brainwashed to lead the campaign against an innocent man doing his job as specified under the law. We will be embarking on mass solidarity rallies in support of Bawa and the EFCC in a few days to come and we call on the outgoing and incoming Presidents to consider the wonderful works that Bawa has done and let him continue with the revolution he has brought to anti-corruption fights and ignore the senseless noise these misguided people are making. We will kickstart our rallies with a world press conference soon. We urge all well-meaning Nigerians to join us in this noble agenda.”
