Over
20 Civil Society Organisations on Tuesday barricaded the headquarters
of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Abuja, calling for
the sacking of its chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde.
The CSOs, under the aegis of the
Coalition of Civil Liberties and Equity, besieged the Abuja office of
EFCC, alleging that the commission had been compromised by a powerful
cabal made up of politicians.
The coalition, therefore, advised that
for the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to successfully tackle
corruption in Nigeria, there was a need to sack Lamorde.
Some
of the placards carried by the protesters read: “Sack Lamorde now,”
“Cabals have hijacked EFCC,” “Buhari merge EFCC, ICPC now,” Lamorde has
been compromised”, among others.
The leader of the protesters, Stanley Onukwufor, expressed disappointment in Lamorde.
He said, “We cannot take it again. The
EFCC ought to be a good agency. It did well in the past and prosecuted
corrupt people. But it has turned into something else. So many things
have happened. Things have gone wrong. We have a President who wants
change and wants things turned around.
“We are out to let Nigerians know that
we want change in the EFCC. The only thing the EFCC does is to arrest
little thieves. What about the former governors who looted the
treasuries of their respective states? Why is the EFCC not prosecuting
them? Most of these politicians are known to be corrupt. The EFCC takes
some of them to court and that is where everything ends. Lamorde must go
in order to bring change in the EFCC.”
But the spokesperson for the EFCC,
Wilson Uwujaren, described the protesters as a group which wanted to
mislead Nigerians and distract the agency.
He said, “My sincere advice to Nigerians
is to ignore these so-called CSOs. We should not allow a group of
misguided elements to assault our collective sensibilities with a
choreographed protest paid for by corrupt persons being prosecuted by
the EFCC.
“The era when Nigerians were easily
deceived by rented crowds is over. Any discerning mind could see through
the selfish motive of the group. Why is it that they did not see any
reason to call for the removal of Lamorde all these years until he moved
against their patrons? What is the bias in charging a person indicted
by a corruption investigation to court? Instead of visiting the
indignity of the spectacle of rented CSOs on the nation, they should go
and face their trial in court.”
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