EXPOSING CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA: Suspended EFCC Chairman, ABDULRASHEED BAWA Demanded $2million Bribe

EXPOSING CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA:

Suspended EFCC Chairman, ABDULRASHEED BAWA Demanded $2million Bribe from Me, other Governors to avoid Prosecution, I submitted Documentation and Audio Recording Evidence to Buhari Administration, Only Tinubu Government acted promptly-MATAWALLE, former Zamfara State Governor

…I knew the house where Bawa made the demand from me and other governors, he intimidates suspects by selling off their properties at give-away prices in the process to enrich himself

*‘I am aware some eminent Nigerians who had evidence of corrupt practices, breach of public trust and abuse of office against Bawa are now submitting such to the Federal Government daily’

*‘Former Head of EFCC Operations, Port Harcourt earlier arrested, detained for abuse of office, fraud, conversion of witnesses properties into self use and  later released on bail

*Over 130 Anti-corruption Civil Society Organisations, 20 Constitutional Lawyers call for sack of suspended EFCC Chairman 

*BY SAMSON SHOAGA/GROUP MANAGING Editor, Nigeria & GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU/AMERICA Senior Investigative Editor

JUDGEMENT seems to have come full circle for the suspended chairman  of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chairman, AbdulRasheed Bawa as the former Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle has openly accused Bawa for requesting $2million bribe from him and other governors to avoid prosecution. I knew the room where the discussion took place.  That was why I submitted to the Federal Government under the Buhari government. Rather, nothing was done, until the Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s current administration acted quickly on the same petitions, including documentation and voice recordings against Bawa.

Matawalle has called for the resignation of the EFCC suspended chairman saying he has questions to answer on corruption issues.

The governor appealed to the federal government to probe Bawa and the activities of the commission under him. 

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the governor accused Bawa of corruptly enriching himself while asking the anti -raft boss to excuse himself and surrender for investigation.

 Matawalle, who personally signed the statement, said he and some eminent Nigerians had evidence of corrupt practices, breach of public trust and abuse of office against Bawa, and said the commission led by Bawa had been largely abused.

A senior official of the state government confirmed to LEADERSHIP last night that his principal issued the statement.

 Matawalle said Bawa needs to come clean on the way and manner he has prosecuted the anti-corruption fight, and should therefore explain how seized assets by the EFCC are being sold without adherence to due process.

He said: “Bawa should explain, for instance, how he has assumed the role of the plaintiff, prosecutor and jury and how he has executed his brand of plea bargaining with suspected criminals and saboteurs of the Nigerian economy and agenda who instead of being put on trial, are walking freely all over Nigeria.

 “It is when the EFCC Chair does this and becomes open, non-selective and all-embracing with his invitation, that we will take him seriously.

 “It is only then will serious-minded officers who have served the people selflessly and meritoriously and are not opposed to an examination of their books, and indeed Nigerians generally take him seriously.

 “Without this, it is just a case of another person in government who has some explaining to do himself over allegations of corruption, high-handedness and abuse of office now asking others to account, by so doing, merely giving Nigerians a comic relief from the present challenging times they are experiencing”, Matawalle said.

The governor also charged Bawa to make his investigation holistic and not selective, saying that the recent invitations and pronouncement by the EFCC Chair is imbalance, incomplete, hypocritical and unnecessarily skewed.

He explained that Bawa’s action is counterproductive to the anti-corruption crusade, while doubting whether Bawa is actually committed to the anti-corruption war.

 “In a bid to help the obvious knowledge-gap and inertia exhibited by the EFCC Chair, the probe should be all embracing and cover all officers.

 “I demand that the EFCC chair extend similar invitations to officers of the Presidency and members of the Federal Executive Council, which is the highest tier of government in the country”, the governor noted.

Also, over 130 frontline anti-corruption civil society organizations have renewed their call for the resignation of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, for alleged politicization of the Commission, disobedience of court orders, and violation of Nigerians’ human rights, among other things.

The activists were joined by over 20 Constitutional lawyers, led by Barr. Mogbojuri Kayode of the Citizens Rights Advocacy Group, noted that the desperation of Bawa to save his face after dishonorable acts in office had taken a laughable turn, insisting that no amount of “purchased CSOs’ vote of confidence” would cover the truth about the abnormalities being condoned in EFCC under its current leadership.

They spoke at a joint press conference in Lagos on Tuesday.

According to them, the EFCC has become so desperate to launder what they called a rapidly diminishing image of Bawa, to the extent that the Commission’s spokesman laughably signed a Press Release, recently, informing Nigerians that a Civil Society Organization had passed a vote of confidence in its chairman.

“Isn’t it the job of the media to see that and independently report?” they asked.

The leaders of the struggle said it was a thing of honour that, despite the immense pressure mounted on leaders of the “Bawa Must Go” protests to abandon their objective cause, over 120 of the main actors had remained resolute while more had joined in the interest of the rule of law.

The Anti-corruption activists, however, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for bailing the country out of what they described as a Judicial quagmire “by dissociating the Presidency from any act of disobedience to court orders and making the Central Bank of Nigeria comply with a Supreme Court order that extended the validity of old naira notes till December 31, 2023.”

“As this is expected to ease the pain of the masses, we hereby call on the President to also wade into the seeming fixation of the EFCC on certain individuals and the desperation of the Chairman of the Commission to score cheap political goals through unwarranted media trials of non-convicted individuals in the country. He should direct Mr. Bawa to step aside until he purges himself of contempt as ruled by a High Court,” Spokesperson for the Coalition, Olufemi Lawson, said in a speech delivered on behalf of the activists.

Chairman, Centre for Anti-corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, Debo Adeniran, specifically noted that his organisation had, from the outset, alerted the National Assembly to the fact that Bawa was unfit for the post of EFCC chairman, over alleged corrupt practices and his rumoured relationship with the Attorney-General of the Federation who was believed to have masterminded the travails and eventually removal of Bawa’s predecessor, Ibrahim Magu.

According to him, Bawa’s alleged misconduct in office is a confirmation of CACOL’s fears of his being a misfit for the position.

Adeniran, who made copies of CACOL’s initial objection to Bawa’s appointment available to the press, said, “Up till now, he (Bawa) has not cleared himself of all the allegations against him and he has been made to catch other people who committed offences that are not as grievous as the ones that he has been accused of. And on top of all of these, he has been behaving as if he is an authority to himself. And we are now saying that, no matter how highly placed you are, no matter how influential you are, you still are duty-bound to operate within the confines of the laws of our own country. That is the Constitution.

“Nobody is above the law. Everybody should be equal before the law. If we don’t allow the rule of law to govern our society, then we are plunging our society into that kingdom where anarchy rules, where there will be chaos and where there will be no control over who does what, and that would be a disorganized society.

“This man has been convicted about two times for flagrant disobedience of court orders. The Inspector-General of Police has been lagging behind in the performance of his duty in this regard, may be because of what they believe should be esprit de corps. Gradually, other agencies would not want to obey the rule of law.

“This would only draw back the gains we have made over the years when we thought that we had struggled ourselves out of the stranglehold of the Military. This is not expected of a born-again democrat that our President now claims to be. For how long will our President allow impunity to govern our society before he knows that he has to exercise his enormous power to insist that the rule of law that he has relied upon over the years holds sway?”

“Those in authority are duty-bound to ensure that judgements of any court, even if by a drunken judge, are implemented by the Police Force. And if the Police Force refuses to implement it, the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. He should call them to order, instruct the Inspector-General of Police to implement the order. If the President also refuses to insist that the rule of law should be held sacrosanct, then there would be protests without end.

“We are just observing a break now as a result of the elections which we must all partake in. We will continue until the rule of law is obeyed. Everybody should be equal before the law,” the CACOL chairman stated.

Spokesperson for the Transparency and Accountability Group, Ayodeji Ologun, wondered why some people, in the name of CSOs would allow themselves to be used to reinforce failure, contrary to what genuine CSOs stand for, noting that in spite of pressure from different quarters, patriotic activists refused to be bought over.

“The issue of Bawa did not start today. When he was in the Port Harcourt division of the EFCC, he had allegations of misconduct around seized property hanging around his neck. These are allegations that were not cleared because he was forced upon the agency.

“We are repeating that we are not against the fight against corruption. But if the successes of the EFCC must stay, we cannot continue to have an ignoble personality like Abdulrasheed Bawa heading that agency. So we are not just asking the incoming government not to inherit him, we are saying he should be removed from office even before the expiration of the term of President Muhammadu Buhari,” he declared.

The anti-corruption CSOs maintained that the Commission had become synonymous with all kinds of scandals, saying, “There are allegations of age falsification to remain in office beyond the statutory limit of civil service regulations. An organization fighting against corruption should not be found enmeshed in such a scandal with the alleged active connivance of the Commission’s leadership.

“We call on the IGP to immediately swing into action and thoroughly investigate these allegations and ensure that all culpable personnel face the full weight of the law, including their facilitators.”

“We are also not unaware of some sponsored campaigns for the incoming administration to retain the services of Mr Bawa as the head of the EFCC. While we concede that it is the exclusive preserve of the President to appoint whoever is deemed fit to head the EFCC and other similar agencies of government, we cannot but as stakeholders state that Mr. Bawa has become deficient in character and as such should be the least considered by any administration determined to truly fight corruption for such a sensitive position which demands not only professional competency, but also high moral value,” they stated.

The ‘Bawa Must Go’ protests are being led by CACOL Chairman, Debo Adeniran; Executive Director, Zero Graft Centre, Kolawole Sanchez-Jude; Chairman, Coalition Against Corruption and Bad Governance, Toyin Raheem; Executive Director, Centre for Public Accountability, Olufemi Lawson; Spokesperson for the Transparency and Accountability Group, Ayodeji Ologun; Director, Activists for Good Governance, Declan Ihehaire; and Ahmed Balogun of Media Rights Concern, among over 120 notable leaders of Anti-corruption CSOs.

“Those in authority are duty-bound to ensure that judgements of any court, even if by a drunken judge, are implemented by the Police Force. And if the Police Force refuses to implement it, the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. He should call them to order, instruct the Inspector-General of Police to implement the order. If the President also refuses to insist that the rule of law should be held sacrosanct, then there would be protests without end.

“We are just observing a break now as a result of the elections which we must all partake in. We will continue until the rule of law is obeyed. Everybody should be equal before the law,” the CACOL chairman stated.

Spokesperson for the Transparency and Accountability Group, Ayodeji Ologun, wondered why some people, in the name of CSOs would allow themselves to be used to reinforce failure, contrary to what genuine CSOs stand for, noting that in spite of pressure from different quarters, patriotic activists refused to be bought over.

“The issue of Bawa did not start today. When he was in the Port Harcourt division of the EFCC, he had allegations of misconduct around seized property hanging around his neck. These are allegations that were not cleared because he was forced upon the agency.

“We are repeating that we are not against the fight against corruption. But if the successes of the EFCC must stay, we cannot continue to have an ignoble personality like Abdulrasheed Bawa heading that agency. So we are not just asking the incoming government not to inherit him, we are saying he should be removed from office even before the expiration of the term of President Muhammadu Buhari,” he declared.

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