Posted by By Nduka Uzuakpundu on
CHAIRMAN of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu has warned public officers that the agency was very much on the alert watching their activities, and ready to expose them whenever they indulged in fraudulent acts.
ABUJA - CHAIRMAN of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu has warned public officers that the agency was very much on the alert watching their activities, and ready to expose them whenever they indulged in fraudulent acts.
He told the BBC yesterday that: 'The EFCC is an independent body with a mandate to fight corruption in the country and the intent of its activities was to remind them that they could be not said to be the representatives of workers and tax-payers and at the same indulge in stealing with impunity.
Ribadu discounted an allegation that the anti-corruption body is an agent of President Olusegun Obasanjo meant to harass and haunt those considered to be his political opponents.
He alluded to the fact since the beginning of the establishment of the EFCC, there had been some caution being exercised by some public officers in the manner they conducted themselves and that none of the 36 state governors would be treated as a sacred cow in the discharge of the agency's assignment.
Ribadu said that the good thing about his job was that he does not take dictation from any one regarding the person to probe, and that the establishment of the EFCC was a pointer to just how determined the Obasanjo administration, since coming to power in 1999, was in the war against corruption.
Although Ribadu would not disclose the names of any governor under investigation, he said that: 'Whoever is stealing is definitely being pursued. We believe there are a lot of them out there who are still not getting the message. People are used to stealing with impunity."
He said that there were some public officers, including members of the ruling People's Democratic Party, who were being watched and who would be invited to aid the commission, just in case.
The initiative on whom to investigate, Ribadu said, does not come from anywhere else, except within the commission.
While he agreed that the manner in which some elected officers had been conducting themselves since the commencement of the Fourth Republic, could be improved upon, Ribadu said that the approach of the EFCC in conducting investigation on those perceived to have committed economic or financial crime had, to some extent, instilled some fear and good conduct on such public officers.
He alluded to the fact that the EFCC was a needed agency to help the image of the country in the face of the perceived rate of corruption in public life.