Naira Swap: ‘No Retreat, No Surrender’ — EFCC Boss Urged To Resist ‘Unscrupulous’ Presidential Candidate Seeking To Remove Him

About 24 hours after THE WHISTLER exclusively reported that a presidential candidate and some governors were behind the calls for the removal of the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, a coalition of over forty civil organisations has raised similar allegation and vowed to resist the plot.

At a press briefing held on Tuesday in Abuja, the coalition under the aegis of Civil Society Groups for Good Governance (CSGGG) said the politicians want Bawa removed as part of efforts to frustrate implementation of the Federal Government’s Naira redesign and cash swap policy.

The FG, through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), had redesigned N1,000, N500, and N200 notes and fixed February 10 deadline to withdraw the old notes from circulation.

The policy was, however, greeted with opposition by some governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) who cited scarcity of the new Naira notes and the attendant hardship inflicted on ordinary citizens as evidence that the policy is anti-people.

But some believe that the governors’ rejection of the policy is to enable them and their preferred presidential candidate to use billions of looted funds they’ve stashed in old Naira notes for vote-buying during the February 25 poll.

On Monday, over 100 anti-corruption CSOs were reported to have staged a protest in Lagos seeking Bawa’s sacking over alleged continued disobedience of court orders.

THE WHISTLER had learned that Bawa launched a special operation to track illicit funds warehoused by the governors and some powerful politicians to prevent its use for vote buying at the forthcoming polls.

The CSGGG, at the press briefing addressed by its Lead Director, Chief Dominic Ogakwu, urged the EFCC boss to resist the plot to remove him while also urging President Muhammadu Buhari to ignore calls for the removal of the anti-graft agency’s head.

“…the EFCC has continued to operate within the ambits of the law while some alleged corrupt individuals have continued to leverage on judicial gymnastics and subterfuges to evade the long arm of the law.

“For instance, a convicted senator who should have been serving his term by seven months in a correctional facility kept being on the run, using medical cover to beat his conviction until he was apprehended recently and is now at his conviction correctional centre.

“The EFCC has been at the centre of ensuring the seamless implementation of the cashless policy of the Federal Government as unscrupulous bankers hoard new naira notes meant for Nigerians. The EFCC has continued to burst the illegitimate stashing by some bank managers and bringing them to justice.

“With barely some days to the general elections, we have noted the doggedness of the anti-graft agency to ensure that Nigerians elect their leaders without vote-buying by some unscrupulous politicians, hence, the ill-conceived, poorly executed call being sponsored by some governors and their presidential candidate against the EFCC chairman. Those who have stashed the stolen patrimony of the people can gather all their tout-like, mushrooms of slanderers, and falsehood peddlers, but they know that they are being watched and all their efforts amount to nothing.

“We wish to use this medium to call on Nigerians to ignore the no-good fellows and their paymasters. Nigerians are fully and determinedly backing the EFCC under Abdulrasheed Bawa to tackle corruption, illicit financial flows, money laundry and other financial crimes.

“In the fight against corruption, we urge the EFCC boss not to retreat and not surrender, while confident that President Muhammadu Buhari will ignore the mischief makers.”