President Muhammadu Buhari has reiterated his administration’s commitment to the fight corruption in the country.
Buhari made this known on Friday when he received the report on from the Ayo Salami panel that investigated the suspended acting chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu.
The suspended EFCC boss was investigated by a panel led by a former president of the Appel Court, Justice Salami, over allegations of graft and insubordination, which were levelled against him by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
In the statement signed by the spokesperson to the president, Femi Adesina, President Buhari expressed his displeasure at the “abomination” that allegations of corruption should arise against government institutions that are saddled with the responsibility of fighting graft.
Buhari said the panel was set up under the Tribunals of Inquiry Act (Cap T21, LFN, 2004) to probe the activities of the EFCC from May 2015 to May 2020.
He further said his administration was prepared to “cut off any stream that nourishes the seed of corruption and supports its growth.”
”However, the stark reality of widespread corruption becomes poignant when allegations of corruption touches on the leadership of an institution set up by law to coordinate and enforce all economic and financial crimes. It is an abomination that strikes at the root and undermines the Government’s anti-corruption programme.
”It was in response to the serious allegations against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that I set up a panel headed by the Honourable Justice Isa Ayo Salami, retired President of the Court of Appeal, via an Instrument dated 3rd July 2020 pursuant to the Tribunals of Inquiry Act (Cap T21, LFN, 2004).
”We recognize that there are more grounds to cover in the war against corruption, and we are prepared to go out to possess those lands by cutting off any stream that nourishes the seed of corruption and supports its growth.
”Let it be known that in the fight against corruption, no one is too big to tackle, as no individual is bigger than the Nigerian State!” President Buhari said.
The President also made mention of key initiatives launched by his administration towards strengthening transparency in the public sector.
He said, ”As a government, and in furtherance of our anti-corruption programme, we have since inception engaged in many reforms in removing corruption including but not limited to the enforcement of Treasury Single Account (TSA), strict implementation of the Bank Verification Number Policy and signing unto the Open Government Partnership. A lot of efforts have gone into building and development of our anti-corruption institutions.”
President thereafter called on all Nigerians to own the fight against corruption at their respective levels and thanked members of the Commission for their dedication and commitment to the fight against corruption.
Meanwhile, the suspended acting EFCC boss, Mr. Magu, has denied all allegations as baseless and false.
