The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has spoken up on the decision of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to reverse the anti-corruption ambassador award conferred on him by an official of the agency.
Recall that the Deputy Senate President was on April 19 conferred as an ambassador of the anti-graft agency by the EFCC liaison officer, Sulaiman Bakari.
Addressing the award conferred on Ekweremadu, the EFCC spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren in a statement denied the award claiming that the liason officer acted of his own accord therefore the award was not a representative of the agency’s stand.
Ekweremadu’s special Adviser on Media and Publicity in a statement reacting to the denial and withdrawal described the move as unfortunate and worrisome.
He added: “We want to put it on record that the EFCC Liaison Officer to the National Assembly, Mr. Suleiman Bakari, and his team, applied for and subsequently paid a courtesy call on the Deputy President of the Senate in his Office on Tuesday, April 19, 2016.
“Mr. Bakari, amongst other issues he raised, solicited the support of the Senate and National Assembly towards the anti-corruption crusade of the present administration, and even presented a frame with a bold picture of President Muhammadu Buhari, bearing the inscription: “If we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria”.
“Mr. Bakari also, on behalf of the Acting Chairman, management, and staff of the EFCC decorated Senator Ekweremadu as an Anti-Corruption Ambassador of the EFCC.
“It is also a fact that the visit and decoration was captured in both pictures and video.”
The Deputy speaker of the Senate’s spokesman also countered the EFCC which claimed it doesn’t issue award to individuals.
“We wish to refer him (Uwujaren,) to December 7, 2007, when the Nuhu Ribadu-led EFCC conferred the Role Model Award in the Fight Against Corruption, on certain persons, including a former President of the Senate; a taxi driver; and a former Justice of the Federal High Court at the Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.”
“Taking cognisance of the command structure of the agency, we also wonder whether Mr. Bakari could have acted on his own or read from a prepared text without recourse to the Commission, which he represents, especially as the visit and decoration was never solicited for in the first place.
“We leave the rest to discerning members of the public to read in- between the lines and make their own judgments.
“However, Ambassador or no Ambassador, the Deputy President of the Senate will not back down from his legislative efforts and advocacy as captured in his several public statements and lectures over the years.
“He will continue to push for legal and institutional reforms such as Special Anti-Graft Courts; Security of tenure and financial autonomy for the EFCC and related agencies.
“Only such reforms would fast-track justice and insulate the anti- corruption agencies from external interference and self-reversals.”