N2.9TRILLION CONTRACTS LOOT: NEW EFCC BOSS MUST SANITISE HIS STINKING HOUSE & NOT PLAY TO THE GALLERY
October 23, 2023 | News
-By Zik Gbemre
N2.9TRILLION CONTRACTS LOOT: NEW EFCC BOSS MUST SANITISE HIS STINKING HOUSE & NOT PLAY TO THE GALLERY
The theatrical display by new EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, during his Senate Screening that he is aware of the looting of N2.9Trillion government contract funds may have excited many stakeholders.
For me, I'm not impressed one bit. We are rather worried that Olukoyede has chosen to start and could most likely end same way his predecessors came and left in shame.
Nigerians like impulsive media trials of jungle justice outside the legal realm and court processes, especially when it affects corruption, looting of public funds. They hear big figures, people accused and found guilty on the pages of newspapers without fair hearing and they start cheering.
Then when courts trial starts, it's always a different ball game as EFCC many times fails to prove such media allegations or the authorities are caught up and shamed in the web of same corruption they are fighting.
This is why the new EFCC boss must watch it. He, like his predecessors, may have played to the gallery at the Senate screening to impress and gain endorsement of the lawmakers but let such exuberance end there.
Whether his revelations are facts or speculations, he should not delight in making claims in the media. We do not even understand the rational why he had to wait till being nominated to head EFCC before revealing findings of the investigation he bragged about.
Whatever the case, the new EFCC boss must know that the challenge before him is less about how much knowledge or information he has about corruption in public places. His predecessors knew about much as he thinks he knows, possibly more but they were overwhelmed by the lures of the office.
The EFCC he has been appointed to lead stinks of the corruption it is meant to fight. It is weakened by internal disharmony from top to bottom in the scramble for fast money that flows from EFCC personnel compromising their rules and self integrity in the line of duty.
Among his fold, the rampant racket now is about EFCC personnel acting on frivolous petitions and allegations aimed at blackmailing and intimidating innocent citizens. EFCC Zonal Offices have been turned into police stations for frequent invitations of innocent citizens while government officials and collaborators that are stealing trillions of public funds in reckless abandon are left to roam the cities with their exotic bulletproof cars.
EFCC should concentrate on its core mandate to fight public corrupting, chasing public officeholders and private collaborators looting the commonwealth meant for development. The police stations are there to deal with all other cases.
The Benin Zonal Office of EFCC, for a case, has been notorious for welcoming blackmail and frivolous petitions to invite and intimidate people over cases and circumstances having nothing to do with fighting public financial crimes.
In a case at hand, the Benin Zonal Office has sent two separate invitations to someone I know closely who owns both a local restaurant and a water factory she operates in Warri. So what has EFCC got to do with a water factory and a restaurant. Are they minting currencies in those business places?
The EFCC is no longer the EFCC being headed by Nuhu Ribadu. The zonal office of EFCC in Benin has derailed for being used by people to start issuing invitation letters and act on all kinds of frivolous petitions. EFCC should focus on why it was established and not chasing innocent people based on frivolous petitions to intimidate and oppress.
The new boss should cleanse the hearts and minds of his men who are loosing grip on anti-graft fight. There are abundant cases of politicians who stole public wealth.
It is glaring when the politicians live above their honest incomes.
Even with much professed seemingly indicting information he has at his disposal, Olukayode must follow due process and the law. He must not forget the common saying, you can't do same thing same way all the time and expect different result.
His duty is to go uncover the funds, not make statements to impress his paymaster. He should get down to work and produce results. We want results, not speculations.
Zik Gbemre
October 20, 2023
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
-By Zik Gbemre
N2.9TRILLION CONTRACTS LOOT: NEW EFCC BOSS MUST SANITISE HIS STINKING HOUSE & NOT PLAY TO THE GALLERY
The theatrical display by new EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, during his Senate Screening that he is aware of the looting of N2.9Trillion government contract funds may have excited many stakeholders.
For me, I'm not impressed one bit. We are rather worried that Olukoyede has chosen to start and could most likely end same way his predecessors came and left in shame.
Nigerians like impulsive media trials of jungle justice outside the legal realm and court processes, especially when it affects corruption, looting of public funds. They hear big figures, people accused and found guilty on the pages of newspapers without fair hearing and they start cheering.
Then when courts trial starts, it's always a different ball game as EFCC many times fails to prove such media allegations or the authorities are caught up and shamed in the web of same corruption they are fighting.
This is why the new EFCC boss must watch it. He, like his predecessors, may have played to the gallery at the Senate screening to impress and gain endorsement of the lawmakers but let such exuberance end there.
Whether his revelations are facts or speculations, he should not delight in making claims in the media. We do not even understand the rational why he had to wait till being nominated to head EFCC before revealing findings of the investigation he bragged about.
Whatever the case, the new EFCC boss must know that the challenge before him is less about how much knowledge or information he has about corruption in public places. His predecessors knew about much as he thinks he knows, possibly more but they were overwhelmed by the lures of the office.
The EFCC he has been appointed to lead stinks of the corruption it is meant to fight. It is weakened by internal disharmony from top to bottom in the scramble for fast money that flows from EFCC personnel compromising their rules and self integrity in the line of duty.
Among his fold, the rampant racket now is about EFCC personnel acting on frivolous petitions and allegations aimed at blackmailing and intimidating innocent citizens. EFCC Zonal Offices have been turned into police stations for frequent invitations of innocent citizens while government officials and collaborators that are stealing trillions of public funds in reckless abandon are left to roam the cities with their exotic bulletproof cars.
EFCC should concentrate on its core mandate to fight public corrupting, chasing public officeholders and private collaborators looting the commonwealth meant for development. The police stations are there to deal with all other cases.
The Benin Zonal Office of EFCC, for a case, has been notorious for welcoming blackmail and frivolous petitions to invite and intimidate people over cases and circumstances having nothing to do with fighting public financial crimes.
In a case at hand, the Benin Zonal Office has sent two separate invitations to someone I know closely who owns both a local restaurant and a water factory she operates in Warri. So what has EFCC got to do with a water factory and a restaurant. Are they minting currencies in those business places?
The EFCC is no longer the EFCC being headed by Nuhu Ribadu. The zonal office of EFCC in Benin has derailed for being used by people to start issuing invitation letters and act on all kinds of frivolous petitions. EFCC should focus on why it was established and not chasing innocent people based on frivolous petitions to intimidate and oppress.
The new boss should cleanse the hearts and minds of his men who are loosing grip on anti-graft fight. There are abundant cases of politicians who stole public wealth.
It is glaring when the politicians live above their honest incomes.
Even with much professed seemingly indicting information he has at his disposal, Olukayode must follow due process and the law. He must not forget the common saying, you can't do same thing same way all the time and expect different result.
His duty is to go uncover the funds, not make statements to impress his paymaster. He should get down to work and produce results. We want results, not speculations.
Zik Gbemre
October 20, 2023
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes