By Saxone Akhaine (Kaduna) and Ernest Nzor (Abuja)
The Arewa Youths Consultative Forum (AYCF) has commended the Federal Government over the suspension, and subsequent detention of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, urging a total overhaul of the Commission.
The Northern group expressed deep appreciation for the swift action taken by President Bola Tinubu in “suspending Bawa indefinitely, and ordering thorough investigation of the activities of the agency under his watch.”
In similar vein, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, hailed President Tinubu over the removal of Bawa as the chairman of the EFCC, saying that the President’s action was heartwarming.
In a statement by the National President of AYCF, Yarima Shettima, the group noted that “the move by Mr President is a reassurance of his government’s commitment to addressing the sceptre of endemic, widespread corruption and political avarice that characterised the eight-year tenure of the previous administration, attributable to a lack of application of relevant laws against corrupt practices among officials of the regime and the apparent compromise of the EFCC under Bawa.”
While welcoming the federal government’s action, Shettima explained: “We are also of the view that it needs to extend the measure to include a total overhaul of the EFCC to flush out remnants of Abdulrasheed Bawa’s accomplices entrenched in top positions.”
He said: “As we except thorough investigations to expose and punish the extent of compromise and complicity of Bawa, it is equally expected that his major accomplices such as his Chief of Staff, Hadiza Ibrahim Gamawa, be suspended as well and subjected to investigation and subsequent prosecution.
“There are incontrovertible facts that the children of the said Chief of Staff, Gamawa who is married to a naval officer, were trained in expensive foreign schools. This inadvertently raises the question of the source of the funds used for such expensive training in addition to several assets owned by the said Gamawa.”
Shettima stressed: “Another principal collaborator in Bawa’s serial atrocities that also needs to be investigated is the Chairman, Monitoring Unit 1, Abuja, Shehu Ala. With regards to the fate that befell Bawa, we consider it a bad lesson for the young generation of Nigerians.
“Meanwhile, we have abiding faith that, in view of his upbringing and eminent legal background, the acting chairman of the EFCC, Abdulkarim Chukkol, cannot afford to disappoint the nation and would pursue the war against corruption with decency and decorum in accordance with the rule of law,” the AYCF leader added.
On another hand, in a statement by the National President, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, recalled that his group had asked former President Muhammadu Buhari to fire Bawa but he refused to heed their advice.
The Igbo group had accused Bawa of merchandising the commission, noting that, “in the history of the EFCC, no chairman of the commission has ever come under public scrutiny in such a short period of time like Bawa. The same goes for many of the staff under him, justifying the aphorism, ‘like father, like son’. This shows how dirty the commission has become.”
While hailing Tinubu, Okwu said a thorough investigation must be conducted on all the activities of Bawa as EFCC helmsman. “Bawa is a disappointment to the youth constituency; he was given the opportunity to prove that youths can hold any leadership position and deliver, but he messed up a rare opportunity.
“We laud President Tinubu for ridding the EFCC of cancerous leadership provided by Bawa. He made a total mockery of the system and for that, his name would remain in the infamous book of history. We urge Mr President to continue in his ongoing efforts to cleanse the system; he should sustain the tempo; nobody should be spared.
“All those who played one role or the other to retard the country’s progress must be held to account no matter how highly placed.”
Source: The Guardian
