The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Monday welcomed the plan by the incoming administration of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to give priority attention to the fight against corruption.
The commission, which has recently come under public scrutiny as a toothless bulldog in the war against graft, particularly in the last eight years, said the president-elect’s pledge would help the commission make the needed impact.
“We are happy that the incoming government is making the fight against corruption one of its cardinal objectives”, the Head, Media & Publicity of the EFCC, Wilson Uwajaren, told journalists Monday.
“Every Nigerian is happy about that. EFCC has been doing this for more than 11 years. We are proud of what the incoming administration wants to do”.
The EFCC added: “We need an administration that would look at what we are doing and empower us sufficiently to enable us make more impact than we have ever done in the past. We welcome the focus and we believe Nigeria needs to tackle this fight more rigorously for us to make the needed impact”.
The commission also hinted that the former Governor of Borno State, Senator Ali-Modu Sheriff, may soon be declared wanted.
Mr. Sheriff has been on the commission’s list for alleged embezzlement of funds and abuse of office during his eight year tenure as governor of Borno State.
“We invited him (Sheriff) for questioning. As I speak to you, he did not honour that invitation. Once the commission invites a suspect in a matter and he fails to honour the invitation, options are opened to us. We might declare him wanted. Yes, we might do that”, Mr. Uwujaren said.