A group under the auspices Kogi Lawyers in the Diaspora (LLTD) has flayed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for poor handling of corruption charges filed against two former Kogi State commissioners – Tolorunju Faniyi and Abiodun Ojo.
The EFCC has been prosecuting the suspects for alleged N150 million fraud at the Federal High Court, Lokoja.
In a statement signed by its officials in Abuja, Adinoyi Malik and Olugbenga Samuel, the United States-based group regretted that “the EFCC sees Kogi as a very fertile ground to despoil, maraud and plunder.”
According to the group, it was unexplainable the sudden realisation by the anti-graft agency the lack of evidence and substance to continue with a case of corruption it took to court in 2010.
The group’s statement reads: “This is the same way EFCC failed to investigate the immediate past governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, who crudely accumulated wealth and property beyond his emoluments between 2003 and 2012.
“Where did Idris get the resources to own Gubabi Royal Hotel, Dreamland Suites, Summerest Hotel, Palmac Hotel, Executive Suite and Grand Ibro Hotel, formerly known as Ibro Hotel, among other property both in and outside Nigeria?
“But the EFCC chose to charge another former governor, Prince Abubakar Audu, to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court after taking him before four different courts and judges in Lokoja in the face of a pending charge duly initiated by the same EFCC at the High Court presided over by Justice S. T. Hussaini.
“We cannot continue this way; the only way to fight corruption is to bring to justice those who have looted public funds. Their punishment will serve as a deterrent to others who may be nursing similar plans. What has become clear in this circumstance is that EFCC is not performing.”
