The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Lamorde, has challenged countries keeping Nigeria’s stolen wealth to quickly reject and return the funds so as to prove their rejection of corruption.
Lamorde threw the challenge Monday when he hosted the leadership of Amnesty International, an international human rights advocacy, who met with him in Abuja.
The chairman claimed that the funds being stolen and stashed abroad by corruption officials in Nigeria, was preventing the country from providing basic services to the people thereby adding to the poverty level in the land.
He described corruption and impunity as the worst form of human rights abuse, which AI must help to end to move society forward.
Lamorde said: ‘‘Western countries must end the impoverisation of developing countries. They must reject and return stolen funds, so that respective governments of the affected developing countries could use the money to better the lives of the poor in their countries.
“It is the common wealth of the people that has been diverted for private use. So, it is the worst form of human rights abuse. When corruption and impunity become the order of the day, human rights abuses flourish.
‘‘When you consider the cause of water-borne diseases suffered by people in rural areas, it is because someone has diverted the funds meant for pipe borne water in those areas.
“Also, when you consider the fact that our hospitals lack the basic amenities, it is because some people have kept the funds allocated to the hospitals to themselves.
Responding to allegations that the EFCC operatives obtain suspects’ statement using torture, Lamorde denied the claim, saying that no form of duress has ever been applied in obtaining statements from its suspects.
According to him, the state- of-the- art recording facilities in the EFCC interrogation rooms would not allow any interrogator to humiliate a suspect.
‘‘The EFCC follows the rule of law. Our statements are recorded and are not taken under duress. Our rooms have cameras in them; so it is not possible to humiliate anyone,” the chairman explaianed.
Lamorde, who expressed gratitude to the AI team for opening an office in Abuja, also described corruption as the worst type of human right abuse, adding that AI must continue to lend its voice to the anti-corruption war in Nigeria.
In his remark, Mr. Colm O Cuanachain, Senior Director, Office of the Secretary General of Amnesty International, said that only nations that take anti-corruption war seriously could experience ‘‘phenomenal growth’’.
Cuanachain also talked about the activities of the AI in the North- Eastern part of Nigeria, the Niger Delta and Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where he said corruption had contributed to human rights violation.
He, however, decried death penalty as punishment for looters of the treasury, adding that it was not the best option in the fight against corruption.
Executive Director, Amnesty International Nigeria, M.K. Ibrahim, emphasized the need for the masses to be educated on the effects of corruption and human rights violations.