The attention of the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to some reports in the print and online
media, on April 20, 2016 claiming that the anti-graft agency has decorated the
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, as “Anti-Corruption Ambassador”.
According
to a statement issued to the Press by the Special Adviser to the Deputy Senate
President, Uche Anichukwu, the purported decoration, was carried out by the EFCC
National Assembly Liaison Officer, Suleiman Bakari who was quoted to have said:
“ On behalf of my acting chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Mustafa Magu and the entire
management and staff of the EFCC, decorate you as an Anti- Corruption
Ambassador and formally present this frame, as a token of our appreciation to your
person and office, and as a symbol of the institutional partnership between the
EFCC and the National Assembly”.
The
EFCC totally dissociates itself from the purported action of Sulaiman Bakari as
he acted entirely on his own. He clearly acted outside his brief as a liaison
officer as the management of the Commission at no time mandated him to decorate
Ekweremadu or any officer of the National Assembly as Anti- Corruption Ambassador.
The
statutory mandate of the EFCC is the investigation and prosecution of all
economic and financial crimes cases, which does not include the decoration of individuals
as anti- corruption ambassadors. The Commission is not in the habit of awarding
titles to individuals. And those enamoured of titles, knows the quarters to
approach for such honours, not the EFCC
Members
of the public and stakeholders in the fight against corruption are enjoined to
disregard the so-called decoration.
No comments:
Post a Comment