L-R:
Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), Representative of EFCC Chairman, Mr Latona Gbolahan;
Host /Executive Chairman of Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership
(CACOL) and representative of Secretary to the Lagos State Government, Engineer
Adekunle Olayinka speaking at the inaugural CACOL’s Occasional Roundtable
Discourse (CORD) at Ikeja, Lagos today. PHOTO BY: Bamigbala Adekola
A
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana has urged the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to wake up from its hibernation to tackle
many corruption cases piled up across the country.
He
made the call on Wednesday at the inaugural Occasional Roundtable Discourse
organised by the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) in
Ikeja, Lagos.
The
senior advocate and human right activist said EFCC should treat all corruption
petitions before it with all seriousness and fairness, adding that Nigeria
doesn’t need to borrow any loan to finance its budget if all proceeds of
corruption are legally and promptly pursued and recovered by the agency.
“For
tax purposes, we must declare the exact quantity of oil brought into Nigeria.
In Philadelphia port (USA) alone in two years, oil taken away from Nigeria and
recorded there was 60.2million barrels, valued at 12.7 billion dollars. We sent
a petition to EFCC almost a year ago; I think they are still studying it. Now
if you add 12.7 billion dollars with 21.7 billion dollars, you’re talking of
about over 31 billion dollars. So, will you need 29 billion dollars loan?,”
Falana said.
Similarly,
former Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Honourable Adeyemi
Ikuforiji tasked the EFCC to help rid the nation of corruption.
Reacting
to his recent legal battles with the anti-graft agency, Ikuforiji said: “All
the media in this country reported as if I have been charged for fraud, No!
EFCC took me to court actually for administrative lapses. It’s not that I took
money and spent on something else; they said that I collected cash from my
(LSHA) account department for what I was supposed to collect it for and for
what I was supposed to use it for, but that I didn’t go to the bank to go and
collect the money. It’s not that the money I collected was too much but they
said I should have gone to the bank to collect it.”
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