From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has charged the new Chairman of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulraheed Bawa, to re-engineer and restore professionalism in the commission.
The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Sectary, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Sunday, urged the EFCC boss to avoid the pitfalls of his predecessor.
The opposition party implored Bawa to resist partisan pressures to use the anti-graft agency as a tool for political persecution, harassment of dissenting voices, settling of personal scores and personal enrichment.
According to the party, it was such tendencies that allegedly eroded professionalism in the EFCC,
“compromised its activities and diminished the public confidence with
regard to fairness, impartiality and even-handedness in the handling of
cases.”
Therefore, the PDP noted that “the new EFCC Chairman is reminded that the EFCC was articulated and
established by the PDP administration to fight corruption and not as a
tool for oppression and intimidation of innocent Nigerians for political
and other unjustified reasons.
“For the first time, the Chairman of the EFCC is drawn
from the pool of trained investigators of the commission and Nigerians
expect the new chairman to bring the benefits of his training to bear by
sanitizing the system and restoring professionalism in line with
international best practices.
“Furthermore, our party urges the new EFCC Chairman to bear in mind that,
given his young age and training, he should exhibit the ideals of the
Generation-Next Nigeria in reciprocation of the confidence Nigerians
repose in him.”