The economic and financial crime commission, EFCC, has been urged to relaunch an investigation into the alleged corrupt practices of the former Governors Peter Odili of Rivers and Senator Henry Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa states respectively. Odili had in 2007 obtained a perpetual injunction restraining the EFCC or any other anti-graft agencies from arresting, investigating or prosecuting him over his financial transactions in the eight years of his administration which spanned between 1999 and 2007. Speaking on the Supreme Court judgment that upturned the suit by 16 Governors to undermined the constitutionality and power of the EFCC, the Chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT, community Development Committees of the Niger Delta Oil and gas producing area, CDC, Joseph Ambakaderimo said the sponsored attacks on the EFCC by those who are on the radar of the Commission only confirms that the EFCC is on the right path therefore no amount of name calling or intimidation of officials will deter them.
“It is incumbent upon the present leadership of the EFCC to look for any legal means possible to upturn the perpetual injunctions obtained by both former Governors Peter Odili of Rivers state and Senator Dickson of Bayelsa state, as a deterrent to other governors or political office holders”
Ambakaderimo said “The judgement of the Supreme Court in throwing out the suit filed by the Governors of Sixteen States is a welcome development. The Court should be applauded by Nigerians for this nationalistic feat. “As they say, a clear conscience fears no accusations. What are the 16 Governors trying to hide? The Governors who went to challenge the Act establishing the EFCC should be held to account by their people. EFCC is hereby urged to place the Governors of these states under routine surveillance”. Ambakaderimo in a statement on Sunday in Port Harcourt, reminded that while Governors are protected by the immunity clause in the constitution, they are not immune to investigation while in office as enshrined in the same constitution. “We offer our unalloyed support to the Commission and its programmes going forward. The Commission should count on the support of the leadership of the CDC henceforth in the fight against corruption”, he volunteered.
The CDC chairman explained that the citizenry should exercise their civic responsibility by providing credible leads that can prevent a financial or economic crime from happening or provide information that will aid investigation of financial crimes and prosecution of offenders without let.
“We all know the debilitating effects of corruption to society. Corruption diminishes the human stature, it deprives people of good life, quality infrastructure, good medical facilities, today the country is in perpetual darkness due to massive corruption in the power sector as alleged by the EFCC, therefore we must all give support to the current leadership of the Commission”. He recalled that the Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede during his screening by the Senate spoke in favour of pursuing preventive measures in fighting crime and criminality, adding that it is less expensive to prevent a crime from happening than prosecution. “We are eventually seeing a new phase of fighting financial crimes in the country since the establishment of the EFCC. We have been carrying on without any modicum of remorse for too long, the present leadership is poised to do things differently for the good of the country therefore all hands must be on deck for us to exit this ignoble path that we find ourselves. Going forward, the success of the Commission is in the hands of the citizenry. Citizens policing on politically exposed persons will go a long way to help shape the output of elected or appointed Nigerians or even in the private sector. Holding our leaders to account by whistle – blowing is part of preventive measures on the part of the citizens.
