Why EFCC Boss, Bawa Should Be Sacked – CSOs Tells President Buhari

Why EFCC Boss, Bawa Should Be Sacked – CSOs Tells President Buhari

Over one hundred Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), have again, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack Abdulrasheed Bawa, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Speaking at a joint press conference in Lagos state on Tuesday, the CSOs alleged that Bawa is guilty of contempt of court, infringement of Human Rights of certain individuals, politicising the anti-graft agency, among others.

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They called on the Inspector of Police Usman Akali Baba to immediately arrest Bawa as ordered by the court.

Speaking at the press conference, the Chairman, Centre for Anti-corruption and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran; and the Executive Director, Centre for Public Accountability, Olufemi Lawson said;

“Rather than act honourably and step aside in view of his status as a convicted official, Mr. Bawa has continued to act as if Nigerian laws are made differently for different Nigerians.

“He has continued to approach the courts to secure convictions in alleged criminal matters even when he has remained defiant to the judgments of the same courts.

“To the best of our knowledge, the judgment committing the EFCC Chairman to Kuje prison for contempt has yet to be upturned by any higher court in the country. Our position therefore remains that the subsisting Court orders must be obeyed before any further actions can be considered by Mr. Bawa.”

“Recall that at the last town hall meeting of this Coalition, we requested through a seven-day ultimatum, that the Inspector General of Police enforce the order of the court and ensure the arrest of Mr Bawa as ordered. Today, we are here to restate that the Inspector-General of Police is duty-bound as directed by the court to produce Mr Bawa in order to ensure that he serves his prison term.

“We want to, on this note, commend President Muhammadu Buhari for bailing the country out of a Judicial quagmire by dissociating the Presidency from any act of disobedience to court orders and making the Central Bank of Nigeria comply with a Supreme Court order that extended the validity of old naira notes till December 31, 2023.

“As this is expected to ease the pain of the masses, we hereby call on the President to wade into the seeming fixation of the EFCC on certain individuals and the desperation of the Chairman of the Commission to score cheap political goals through unwarranted media trials of non-convicted individuals in the country. Mr. Bawa must step aside until he purges himself of contempt as ruled by the High Court.”