Okwe Obi, Abuja
Following the suspension of the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, Human Rights Writers association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has advised President Mohammadu Buhari to consider merit and competence as benchmarks when selecting substantive head.
National Coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, yesterday, also alleged that detention of Magu symbolised deeper issues of extensive corruption of staggering proportions in all facets of Nigeria’s national life.
He said: “HURIWA has therefore decided to ask the President to reorganize the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and appoint a capable hand to pilot the affairs of EFCC devoid of politics.
“The President to use merit and competence as the benchmarks for selecting the substantive head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).”
Onwubiko, further condemned the Federal Government for “peddling toxic and uncoordinated false information and outright lies on the exact circumstances of the arrest and detention of the embattled Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC Ibrahim Magu.”
He argued that the conflicting explanations was a violation of the Freedom of information ACT of 2015 and section 22 of the 1999 Constitution which makes the media the custodians of information and to act as a vanguard and conscience of the nation.
He added that, “EFCC under Ibrahim Magu did nothing when the late Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Abba Kyari came under series of accusations of collecting huge bribes from MTN and allegedly engaging in many cases of frauds and contract scams just as the EFCC has watched as the National Social Investment Scheme under the Presidency failed to account for how over N500 billion budgetary releases were spent just as there are allegations that ghost beneficiaries were paid the social investment programme money without any iota of accountability and transparency.