Headline
EFCC Chairman Orders Operatives To Declare Assets
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr Ola Olukoyede, has directed staff members of the commission to immediately declare their assets in line with civil service regulations and procedures.
He gave the directive on Tuesday at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja while addressing senior staff members of the EFCC, stressing that, fighting corruption required those at the vanguard to be above board.
The EFCC boss assured the commission’s staff members that adherence to the rule of law would be an article of faith and a defining principle of work.
“The EFCC is a creation of the law. We must do our job in line with the dictates of the law. This is a standard international practice and we would ensure that it is our established norm.
“All of us are going to declare our assets; from Level 17, downward. I did mine, so there’s no reason for anyone to be afraid to do the same. Even the commission’s secretary did, you all may also have done it in the past, but there’s a need for all of us to do it again. We will declare our assets, and we are going to investigate them.
“We must live above board by setting the pace with good examples. As anti-corruption fighters, our hands must be clean, so we must declare our assets,” the spokesperson for the EFCC, Dele Oyewale quoted Olukoyede as saying in a statement made available to journalists on Tuesday.
While urging the operatives to be professional, he further called on staff members of the commission to pay premium attention to the basis of fighting economic and financial crimes, pointing out that, such efforts should be geared towards growing the economy of the nation, creating rightful environment for enhanced investment and strengthening the productive base of the economy.
Olukoyede added, “We must do our job to add value to the nation. Investors must have confidence in the economy and we must help the country to be governed in an accountable and transparent manner. By doing this, it will offer us a new direction to redeem the image of the nation.
“Please, I beg you, let our hands be clean and put our house in order. Some may not like me, but I am going to do the right thing and treat everybody equally irrespective of religion, ethnicity and region.”
He assured the staff members of a better welfare package, enhanced training and equal opportunities to ensure higher productivity. He warned “those compromising their works and position to desist from such conduct, as dire consequences await every unsavoury tendency.”
The Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN has warned against obstructing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from carrying out its lawful duty .
Fagbemi’s warning is contained in a statement in Abuja.
“This is a matter of very grave concern, it is now beyond doubt that the EFCC is given power by the law to invite any person of interest to interact with them in the course of their investigations into any matter, regardless of status.
“Therefore, the least that we can all do when invited, is not to put any obstruction in the way of EFCC, but to honourably answer their invitation.
“A situation where public officials who are themselves subject of protection by law enforcement agents will set up a stratagem of obstruction to the civil and commendable efforts of the EFCC to perform its duty is to say the least, insufferably disquieting’’.
He added that running away from the law will not resolve issues at stake but only exacerbate them.
“Nigeria has a vibrant judicial system that is capable of protecting everyone who follows the rule of law in seeking protection.
“I therefore encourage anyone who has been invited by the EFCC or any other agency to immediately toe the path of decency and civility by honouring such invitation instead of embarking on a temporising self-help and escapism.
“This can only put our country in bad light before the rest of the world’’.
He said institutions of state should be allowed to function effectively and efficiently.
“I stand for the rule of law and will promptly call EFCC, and indeed any other agency to order when there is an indication of any transgressions of the fundamental rights of any Nigerian by any of the agencies’’.
NAN reports that the EFCC had on Wednesday warned members of the public that it was a criminal offence to obstruct officers of the Commission from carrying out their lawful duties.
Section 38(2)(a(b) of the EFCC Establishment Act makes it an offence to prevent officers of the Commission from carrying out their lawful duties. Culprits risk a jail term of not less than five years.
The warning , the EFCC said, became necessary against the background of the increasing tendency by persons and groups under investigation by the Commission to take the laws into their hands by recruiting thugs to obstruct lawful operations of the EFCC.
On several occasions, the anti graft agency said, operatives of the Commission have had to exercise utmost restraint in the face of such provocation to avoid a breakdown of law and order.
Some unknown gunmen have kidnapped Joshua Rogers, the ChannelsTV reporter in Port-Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Politics Nigeria learnt that Rogers was picked up close to his residence at Rumuosi in Port Harcourt and to an unknown destination by the gunmen around 9pm on Thursday, April 11.
The reporter was driving his official ChannelsTV branded car when the hoodlums accosted, pointed a gun at him and took him away in the same vehicle.
Rogers was said to be returning from his official assignment in Government House after a trip to Andoni for a government event when the incident happened.
Already, the gunmen were said to have contacted his wife and demanded a N30million ransom for bis release.
His cameraman confirmed the incident and appealed to his abductors to set him free unconditionally.
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