Fraud allegations: Prosecute your former chairman, Coalition urges EFCC

A Civil Society Organization under the umbrella of the Coalition of Activists Against Corruption in Nigeria (CAACIN) has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to immediately prosecute its former Chairman, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, over multiple corruption allegations against him.

This was contained in a statement made available to newsmen on Thursday by its spokesperson, Comrade Ahmed Aliyu.

The group also challenged the Department of State Services (DSS) to make public the report of its investigation into the over four-month detention and interrogation of the erstwhile EFCC boss, who has been in custody since 2023.

According to the group, “It is not possible to detain a man of his caliber for five months for nothing. We invite the DSS to make public the report of their findings. There were multiple corruption allegations against Bawa, which both the EFCC and DSS were aware of. Nigerians can’t afford to let these be swept under the carpet.”

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The coalition’s call comes barely three days after a group, Citizens Forum for Transparency and Integrity (CFTI), in a statement by its President, Alhaji Aminu Mustapha Gidado, accused Bawa of secretly working with opposition figures to discredit President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

In what the group described as “coordinated and sinister,” the CFTI alleged that Bawa recently met with key opposition figures in London, where discussions were held on using his former contacts within the EFCC to target four serving ministers in Tinubu’s cabinet.

Reacting on Thursday, the Coalition of Activists Against Corruption in Nigeria also frowned upon the rationale behind keeping appointees and close allies of the ex-chairman in the Commission two years after he was sacked.

According to the coalition, “It does not make any sense to still keep the appointees and close allies of a man who was repeatedly accused of embezzlement, fraud, bribery, and other corrupt practices within the system. It is as good as still having the corrupt man in the system. Aside from the fact that the system will remain corrupted by them, it’s also simple logic that the ex-chairman could use them to sabotage the Commission and the government.”

“Keeping those Bawa appointed or employed during his two-year tenure in the Commission is tantamount to sitting on a time bomb, as it would only be a matter of time before his loyalists begin to sabotage the fight against corruption and undermine the integrity of Tinubu’s anti-corruption stance.”

“It is on this note that we demand the DSS make public the report of their investigation. The EFCC should, as a matter of urgent necessity, charge Abdulrasheed Bawa to court. The Commission should also purge itself by showing those Bawa brought in the way out.”

It would be recalled that President Tinubu suspended Abdulrasheed Bawa as Chairman of the EFCC in June 2023, exactly two weeks after assuming office.

The DSS subsequently picked him up the same day and detained him for 134 days without providing reasons for his arrest or disclosing the outcome of their investigation.

Several credible media houses, both within and outside the country, have reported stories about the alleged embezzlement of public funds by the former EFCC boss. Many organizations, including the North Central Citizens Council (NCCC), have also called for a full investigation into the allegations leveled against Bawa, even while he was still in office.

One of the allegations was that the former chairman expended a large sum of money, to the tune of $300,000, on hotels and other activities—far beyond his income as a civil servant—during a lesser Hajj trip to Mecca with his family while still in office.

There were also reports that Bawa was probed by the current EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, in 2019 over the alleged sale of seized assets worth over N4.8 billion while Bawa was overseeing the Lagos Zonal Office of the Commission, though the EFCC refuted this claim in 2021.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE