By Uche Onyeali
Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, has joined the call on President Bola Tinubu to sack the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, saying the anti-graft agency in its current state is "grossly incompetent."
The coalition, in a statement yesterday, observed that there was no excuse valid enough for committing the two errors of judgement by the EFCC on the day the former governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello reportedly submitted himself to the commission.
The statement signed on behalf of the coalition by 10 members of its Media, Strategy, Steering, Financial Contact and Mobilisation Committees noted that it was disappointing to see the ongoing drama between the anti-graft commission and the immediate past Kogi governor.
"We are aware that there has been some inexplicable back-and-forth between the EFCC and the former governor for some months now, which has generated considerable public interest across Nigeria. Not a few Nigerians have been eager to see the day that the former governor would be brought in to defend the allegations of humongous corruption leveled against him by the anti-graft agency.
"The commission went all out to declare him wanted and put him on an international watchlist with the assistance of INTERPOL that anywhere he is found, he is to be promptly arrested.
"It is quite intriguing that the same man you have been hunting for, walked into your headquarters in Abuja and you let him walk away without as much as interrogating him under the pretext of some extremely ridiculous and flimsy excuses, one of which was that he came with a sitting governor among others.
"A smart and intelligent head of a security agency like the EFCC would have tactically taken the former governor into custody without much ado. But, clearly, the current leadership of the EFCC is totally clueless about the masterful art of intelligence policing. An agency like the EFCC is way above his training as a legal practitioner.
"When the current chairman of the EFCC was appointed, many legal pundits pointed out that the office of the EFCC chairman should legally be occupied by a serving or retired senior police or any security officer. All those observations fell on government's deaf ears. The result has been the reversal of the gains made in the past on anti-corruption efforts of successive governments since the current leadership of the EFCC took office.
"If you could not arrest the former governor in the presence of his successor, why send armed operatives to the official abode of the same sitting governor to start shooting in the middle of the night under the guise of wanting to effect the arrest of someone who had earlier made himself available to you? That incident could have ended fatally with serious consequences for our democracy. It would have overheated the polity beyond control.
"There is no excuse valid enough in the world for committing those two errors of judgment by the EFCC. First, you let the man you declared wanted get away from your premises under a very suspicious game plan.
"Secondly, you later mobilised at night to go and effect arrest of the same man. EFCC needs to come out and tell Nigerians what they are hiding and their real interest and intentions on this matter.
"Everything looks suspect on this matter. Since Mr Olukoyede took over as EFCC chairman, it has been one controversy or the other. If it is not about EFCC operatives committing gross human rights abuses against Nigerians, it would be arrogant disrespect for due processes and court orders.
"With this kind of leadership, it will remain handicapped to effectively fight corruption. It is in this regard that we sincerely feel that if President Tinubu is truly desirous of fighting corruption in the country, the current EFCC chairman should be sacked immediately and a real professional from any of the real security agencies be appointed as replacement to avoid this type of local and international embarrassment that this chairman has brought to the current administration and the country at large.
"His is a case of a square peg in a round hole. The geometry can never align," the statement partly read.
Signatories to the statement include Barrister Emeka Igwe, Alhaji Hamisu Santuraki, Prince Frank Ukonga, Professor Godswill Nnaji, Alhaji Takai Adamu, Amb. Abah Lewis, Chief Abayomi Runsewe, Mrs Grace Ishaku, Mrs Gift Yusuf and Mayor Japhet Anyanwu.
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