The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has revealed that endemic corruption in the Nigerian public sector is systemic.
He also noted that saints would
be contaminated if brought into the Nigerian public sector.
Olukoyede made the development
known on Tuesday while fielding questions from journalists at the EFCC
headquarters, Jabi, Abuja.
He commented on the alleged
money laundering cases involving former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, and
suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu, among others.
Olukoyede said, “There are
things that we cannot give out to the public. Some of the things were given
yesterday, you must have discovered that, and you are still going to find out.
You will also agree with me that as media people, there is what we call
informatics; some of us do not even read.
“Some of us just pick what
these people write about us on social media and run with it. It is not about
Hadi Sirika, like I told you, there is nothing personal. It is about the
system, the process, it’s about national interest.
“So don’t make it look like
EFCC is running after Hadi Sirika, no it’s a system. If you ask me that are we
investigating issues that have to do with the issue of aviation, l will tell
you yes we are investigating it. When the time comes for you to know the
details of our report, I’ll tell you. But for now, it is premature for me to
tell you.
On Edu, the EFCC chairman said
the commission had released a comprehensive statement.
He continued, “I don’t know why
you people have singled out only Betta Edu. As I am talking to you now, we have
established so much in that place, not only Betta Edu. What I am doing is not
about Betta Edu, it’s not about any man, I have told you before that it’s about
the system that will allow someone to access the agency’s account and roll out
7 billion under one hour without assigning it to any specific project.
“I told you before that the
people we suspended, if we replace them by now, even if we brought saints,
within 24 hours, the saints will be contaminated. It is not about any man. It
is about the system. It is the system I am investigating.
“So let us understand how these
things work and have that mindset. If we had gone after Betta Edu and hundreds
of people were stealing money, do you think it started during Betta Edu?”
He added “Every single money
that was allocated in that ministry is what we are investigating. I told you
before that we are investigating over 50 accounts. You must understand some of
these processes.
“For each account, we write
letters to banks and these banks take two to three weeks to respond, we
interview, it takes time. There are agencies you write letters to and they
won’t respond until you go there and threaten to arrest. Do you know what it
means to sit down and investigate 50 accounts one after the other and
diligently?
“There are still people who are
innocent victims. I will now begin to mention their names not because I want to
impress Nigerians. You must also respect the lives of these people. I didn’t
come out to say I have indicted persons but what I’ve come out to say is that
I’ve recovered amount.
“So give us time. We are just
five months into this investigation. There are some correspondences we are
expecting from abroad. Some money was traced to some accounts that if we did
not do diligent work, by the time they rushed you to court, they would say ‘EFCC
your head is not correct’.
“If this investigation on
Nigeria is going to take me one or two years to do, I will do it. My sister
spoke about one lawyer, who went to court and said EFCC is an illegal body.
This thing that corruption does to our conscience in this country,” he added.
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