Yahaya Bello: ‘EFCC Not Fighting Corruption, Has Ulterior Motive

A civil society organisation in Nigeria, Campaign for Democracy (CD), yesterday called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately relieve the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, of his job, saying that he has demonstrated lack of capacity to hold such office.

The organisation said it was unimaginable that the former governor, who the same EFCC had placed on its watch list and who the commission enlisted security agencies in the country and the International Police (Interpol) to help fish out, walked into the EFCC premises, waited for about three hours and no arrest or interrogation was conducted.

“Instead, they told him to go, that they would get back to him only to issue a laughable statement that he was still a wanted man,” Campaign for Democracy President, Ifeanyi Odili, said in a statement yesterday.

According to him, EFCC’s excuse that they couldn’t arrest him because a sitting governor accompanied him to their office is the main reason Olukoyede should be asked to go. “Many people had castigated this man for long even though many others believed the case was mainly that of persecution.

In all of this, CD did not dabble into the matter. Now that the matter has taken a dramatic turn, one that touches on democratic principles and affects the country’s image, it is pertinent for well-meaning Nigerians to lend their voice.

“Associates of the former governor had been raising the alarm that his life was at risk. With the events of yesterday, Wednesday, September 18, 2024, any right thinking person would conclude that his life must be truly at risk.

“You said you couldn’t arrest him or interrogate him in your office because his governor was there, yet you went, at night, to the official residence of the same governor in Abuja to start firing gunshots as if Nigeria is a lawless society.

This is unacceptable,” Odili stated. The Campaign for Democracy said that in saner climes, the EFCC boss would have been fired the next morning. “The man, Yahaya Bello, has fulfilled all righteouness.

With the turn of events that culminated in a show of shame last night, it appears the EFCC has an ulterior motive definitely different from the fight against corruption,” the civil society organisation submitted.