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The Action Congress (AC) has described the recent claim by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), that he is answerable to the National Assembly as a barefaced lie aimed at hoodwinking Nigerians.
• Says EFCC answerable to president
The Action Congress (AC) has described the recent claim by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), that he is answerable to the National Assembly as a barefaced lie aimed at hoodwinking Nigerians.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said Ribadu's new claim contradicts his earlier stand that he was answerable to the president.
At the inauguration of the Senate Committee on Narcotics and Hard Drugs on Wednesday, September 19, Ribadu said he was answerable to the National Assembly and that he would go whichever way the National Assembly directed him.
'This is the exact opposite of Ribadu's position before the same National Assembly under former President Olusegun Obasanjo. When Ribadu appeared before the Senate, in the session in which he said 31 governors were under investigation, some senators suggested that the EFCC deserved to be independent of the Presidency and that they will amend the EFCC Act to ensure that.
'Ribadu, however, roundly rejected the offer, saying he was comfortable with the arrangement that placed him under President Obasanjo, who, he said, did not interfere in any way with his job.
'We also recall vividly that when Justice Inumidun Akande of the Lagos High Court gave her landmark judgment in the case between Otunba Oyewole Fasawe and the EFCC, that it was illegal for EFCC to have submitted its report on the investigation of Fasawe to President Obasanjo, Ribadu arrogantly retorted that the EFCC, like every other Federal Government's agency, was legally bound to report to the President.
'Indeed, when the Senate, under the leadership of Senator Ken Nnamani, amended the EFCC Act to make the agency answerable to the National Assembly rather than the president, Ribadu openly denounced the amendment, insisting that EFCC should be under the Presidency. The Senate's amendment was not supported by the House of Representatives and the control of the EFCC remained with the Presidency.
'So, what has changed between then and now that Ribadu is shopping for a new institution to control EFCC?
'The answer is obvious. Obasanjo, who encouraged and indeed, promoted the disregard for the rule of law, is no longer in the saddle. Ribadu, is apparently not comfortable working within the bounds of the rule of law and will rather go shopping for a new master than submitting to the rule-of-law instinct of the Yar'Adua administration.
'The question remains: Why can't EFCC work within the rule of law to discharge its duties? This man, Ribadu, is an outlaw. The National Assembly should not be flattered by his offer of the hand of the EFCC. The law does not permit Ribadu the choice of a new master each time he disagrees with the one subsisting.
'The AC is committed to the war against corruption. Corruption is a malaise that has denied Nigerians the benefits of our enormous human and natural resources. The war must, however, be waged in accordance with the laws of the country and not according to the whims and caprices of some individuals.
'It was the attempt to do this that compromised the integrity of the war against corruption when it became a tool of political persecution by Obasanjo and Ribadu," AC stated.