Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa, has confirmed that the anti-graft agency is critically looking at every petition directed against top Nigerian politicians.
Bawa said the Petitions Vetting Desk/Committee of EFCC, made up of experienced officers from the Legal Department as well as those trained to investigate such petitions, were reviewing these petitions to see whether they had merits that would warrant prosecution.
He also said that the commission has so far recovered over N30 billion out of the N109 billion allegedly siphoned by the suspended Accountant-General of the Federation, Idris Ahmed.
The Chairman of the Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, stated this while appearing at the Ministerial Media Briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday.
According to him, the EFCC was working on every petition directed to it to establish the veracity of such petition.
He pointed out that the agency, which he leads, was out to work for the interest of Nigerians and was determined to carry out its duties without fear or favour.
Asked if EFCC had received any petition against any of the 18 presidential candidates angling to succeed President Buhari, Bawa said: “On the question if we received petitions against top politicians contesting for office, my question is at this hour do you want to start inviting all the presidential candidates to come and make statements? The same media will say it’s politically motivated.
“So we are not, we are not, aah, we are working behind the scene in all the petitions we received to see those that have merits; so that’s why we are not publicizing it.
“And that’s why we have what we call Petitions Vetting Desk/Committee made up of experienced officers from the Legal Department as well as those trained to investigate that will review these petitions to see whether they are in line with our own mandate before they will recommend whether they will be prosecuted by the EFCC.
“We have benchmark for it that we can follow, that guides us, you know, in terms of accepting or rejecting petitions, you know, as we also have criteria which have even been publicized to guide petitioners on the requirements to make a petition to have merit.”
Giving highlights of the Commission’s achievements from January to December 2022, Bawa gave other recoveries as N134,33,759,574.25, $121,769,076.30, £21,020.00, €156,925.00, ¥21,350.00, CFA300,000.00 among others.
He also revealed that over 3,615 convictions were recorded within the period, affirming that the administration is serious about its anti-corruption programme.
The EFCC boss announced that the nationwide auction of forfeited automobiles will be followed by the disposal of over 150 houses to interested buyers.
