- …says she’s still under investigation
- …frowns at Nigerians celebrating criminals
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has revealed why the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, has not been recalled by President Bola Tinubu.
This was disclosed by the EFCC Chairman, Olanipekun Olukayode in the latest edition of the agency’s publication made available to newsmen on Monday.
According to the Chairman, the reason why Edu hasn’t been recalled is because her matter was still being investigated by the agency.
Olukayode further asked Nigerians to give the agency more time to do its work, adding that N30 billion looted funds traced to 50 bank accounts have been recovered from the Ministry which is now in the Federal Government’s account.
The EFCC Chairman said: “Moreover, with respect to this particular case, we have recovered over N30 billion, which is already in the coffers of the Federal Government. It takes time to conclude investigations; we started this matter less than six weeks ago. There are cases that take years to investigate. There are so many angles to it. And we need to follow through some of the discoveries that we have seen.
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“Nigerians should give us time on this matter; we have professionals on this case and they need to do things right. There are so many leads here and there. As it is now, we are investigating over 50 bank accounts that we have traced money into. That is no child’s play. That’s a big deal.”
Olukayode in the agency’s publication as reported by Vanguard Newspaper also frowned at Nigerians who continue to celebrate criminals in the country, arguing that such practice was anti-societal.
The EFCC Chairman wondered why some Nigerians should be closing their eyes to the atrocities being committed against the nation by those being investigated for financial crimes but trying to attack the commission for doing its job.
He said: “The moment EFCC starts investigating someone, those who have benefited from him one way or the other, will close their eyes to what they have been deprived of by reason of that financial crime. They then concentrate on attacking the agency. They use media propaganda and even sometimes physical attacks, yet we are working for Nigerians. We are working to preserve integrity in the way we do things and so we need the support of Nigerians.
“People are given money to procure arms and they won’t do it, and so expose those at the war front to all kinds of danger and peril. It is important for us to come together as a people. Outsiders are not going to clean Nigeria for us. We are here. Someone like me I only have one passport, the green passport.
“Corruption is so damaging, and that is why we are where we are today. Go to other African countries, small countries across the globe, you will see development, you’ll see good roads, you’ll see quality health facilities.
“Even the issue of insecurity that we are talking about, one way or the other, it can be linked to corruption. I keep telling people that there is nothing wrong with us fundamentally as Nigerians, but the system we run, and the processes that we follow are the things that are causing problems for us.
“There are bad guys all over the world, but over there, their system is strong enough to checkmate them and to ensure that there are consequences for wrongdoing. So we need to come together and say wrong is wrong irrespective of whether we are related to the person or not. That is when I’ll believe that we are ready to fight corruption.”
