CITIZENS COMPASS- PROTESTERS on Saturday, stormed the streets of Ikeja, Lagos State, in continuation of the demand for the removal of Abdulrasheed Bawa as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. EFCC.
The protests resulted in traffic jam which paralised the area as hundreds of human rights activists organised the protests.
The anti-Bawa activists consists the Coalition of Anticorruption Organizations came out in their numbers along the busy Alausa-Obafemi Awolowo Way chanting “Bawa Must Go” with placards condemning the EFCC chairman’s alleged disobedience to Court orders.
The protesters demanded the removal of Abdulrasheed Bawa as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. EFCC.
The protest was led by Dr. Kolawole Sanchez-Jude, Mr Declan Ihekaire, Mr Cletus Okedube, Mr Johnson Areola, Mr George Sanda, Mr Femi Lawson and a host of other notable activists.
The protesters, in a statement read by Femi Lawson, said: “The EFCC cannot continue to dehumanise Nigerians on the pages of newspapers, based on unverified political investigations and without proving their case beyond reasonable doubt in a competent court.
The fixation of the EFCC boss on certain individuals and institutions when grievous petitions capable of bringing the economy down are left unattended, gives the anti-corruption war, under the leadership of Mr. Bawa, a dangerously political colouration.
“It has become a tool used to distract perceived political opponents of certain powerful interests with all manner of unfounded embarrassments promoted in both the conventional and social media.
“We call on stakeholders in the Nigerian project to call them to order.
“Nigeria is not a Police state and we the activists will not stand by while people’s rights are denied them unjustly.”
Recall that civil society organisations on Friday, February, 10, 2023, in Lagos, have called for the sack of Abdulrasheed Bawa as Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The right activists cited incessant disobedience of court order being reason for their demand.
Over 40 anti-corruption Civil Society Organisations were part of the protest during a press conference jointly addressed the leaders of the anti-corruption activists.
The CSOs alleged that the EFCC, under Bawa, had chosen to become an institution known for brazenly disobeying orders of courts in such a manner that does not only undermine the institutions of Nigeria’s democracy, but also indicates a contradiction to the anti-corruption agenda of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, and came to a conclusion that Bawa must be sacked for the Commission to recover its past glory.
The bodies were led by the Chairman, Centre for Anti-corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, Debo Adeniran; Executive Director, Zero Graft Centre, Kolawole Sanchez-Jude; Chairman, Coalition Against Corruption and Bad Governance, Toyin Raheem; Executive Director, Centre for Public Accountability, Olufemi Lawson; and Ahmed Balogun of Media Rights Concern, among others.
The press conference was themed,: “EFCC’s Consistent Disobedience of Court Orders is a Recipe for Anarchy; A Call For The Immediate Sack of Mr. AbdulRasheed Bawa”.
Other leaders include Ologun Ayodeji, Transparency and Accountability Group; Declan Ihehaire, Activists for Good Governance; and Ochiaga Jude, Centre for Ethics and Good Governance, among others.
They noted that aside from the EFCC’s penchant for disobedience of court orders, the situation has reached an embarrassing height where the Commission’s boss, Bawa, has been committed to prison more than once within two months for clear breach of the extant orders of the Court.
They said, “EFCC’s Gestapo-style regime of disobeying court orders must stop. Nigeria is not a banana republic. Attempts by institutions of state to ridicule the country and make it seem like a lawless fiefdom must be resisted by all. The EFCC seems to be allowing itself to be used as an instrument of political witchunt as it targets some individuals more than many others.
