In spite of his ongoing prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly receiving billions of naira meant for the purchase of arms from the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), former Governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, has advised Nigerians to support the anti-graft agency and President Muhammadu Buhari in the fight against corruption.
The former governor who was detained for three weeks along with his son, Sagir, before being charged to court, said the ongoing fight against corruption cannot be done alone by President Buhari, advising Nigerians to own the crusade.
Bafarawa, who spoke yesterday in Abuja while interacting with some journalists, said the fact that he is being investigated by the EFCC and recently charged to court for alleged corruption does not mean he is corrupt.
“I think it is the media that are giving it a different meaning; the fact that I was recently invited and later charged to court by the EFCC does not mean I am corrupt. The EFCC has its reasons for investigating me and I am ready to prove to the court that I am innocent.’’
“I totally support President Buhari in his fight against corruption, and I want Nigerians to support him as he cannot do it alone. The president should put more effort in preventing corruption. And he can do this by creating awareness centres across the country in order to educate the people about the effects of corruption.’’
On the detention of suspects without charging them to court on time, as requires by law, Bafarawa said he was a victim of the action.
“I believe suspects should be treated as innocent until they are convicted by a court of law. I was a victim of detention without trial for three weeks. The EFCC claimed it had Magistrate court’s order to detain me. But the Chief Justices of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) just warned the Magistrate courts last Wednesday against such order going forward. At least we are progressing in the right direction,’’ the embattled former governor stated.
The PDP chieftain said corrupt practices permeate all segments of the country claiming that almost 90 percent of Nigerians are corrupt.
He added: “Almost 90 per cent of Nigerians are corrupt. When you go to the grassroots level, corruption starts from there. The electorate will demand money from you before voting for you---no matter how good you are; no matter the sound ideology you have; no matter what you are bringing to the table, they are not interested.
“What they want is money from you. And those contesting election will now go and look for money to give to the electorate; it might be from the banks, from some political godfathers or other interest groups. And that is the beginning of corruption in our politics. It is from ward to local, state and to the federal government levels.
“The electorate are corrupt; the politicians are either corrupt or they are forced to be corrupt. When politicians who borrowed money to give to the electorate get to the offices the first thing they do is to start looking for money to pay back their debts. And they cannot get this money without the collaboration of the civil servants.’’
Bafarawa also wonders why some governors who left or got re-elected in 2015 would have to look for bailout from the federal government, despite the huge funds they collected from the federal government as allocations.
Meanwhile, the EFCC has sealed off a property allegedly belonging to former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (rtd).
The property located in Kumasi Street, Wuse II area of Abuja before the seal off, was said to be occupied by Badeh’s son.
THISDAY could not immediately confirm the reason behind the seal off of the property.
When contacted, the spokesperson of EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, denied knowledge of the operation.
“I am not aware of this, I don’t have any information on it,” he said.
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