Magnus Eze, Enugu
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said it recovered over N400m in the South East in the past 17 months.
It added that among its other achievements in the area were securing the conviction of 133 fraudsters and seizure of 61 various brands of exotic cars.
The agency also said that its creation was one of the greatest achievements of the nation’s current democratic era.
Briefing newsmen on the activities of the EFCC South East zone in Enugu, to mark the 2020 Democracy Day, the zonal head, Mr. Ibrahim Bappa, said that the agency had helped to preserve the nation’s democracy.
According to the anti-graft agency, it has since its inception in 2003 ushered in a new lease of life to the country which before then was widely acknowledged as a cesspool of corruption among the comity of nations particularly in the 1990s.
Represented by his second-in-command, Mr. Johnson Oshodi, he also disclosed that the agency was investigating some cases of politically-exposed persons including adhoc officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the five South East states allegedly involved in diverting state funds running into billions of naira during the 2019 elections.
“Many have asked what would have become of Nigeria had EFCC not been established owing to the fear that it had successfully instilled in both corrupt private and public individuals. The activities of the Commission have not only helped in sustaining the gains of democracy by saving the country billions of naira from the hands of corrupt public officers but also created a public consciousness of the negative effects of corruption and the need to collectively own the fight against it,” he stated.