Some Powerful People Threatening To Kill Me, EFCC Chairman Alleges

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa has alleged receiving death threats from some powerful Nigerians.

Bawa disclosed this while featuring on the Sunrise daily TV show on Tuesday.

According to the Chairman, corruption has the capacity to fight back.

He said, “Last week I was in Europe as all Nigerians are aware of, and very senior citizen received a phone call from someone that is not even under investigation, but what he said to him on phone was that he was going to kill the EFCC Chairman.

“I am going to kill him. I am going to kill him. This is to tell you how bad it is. It is actually real. Corruption can fight back.”

He explained that there is a clear difference between fighting corruption and fighting corrupt people, adding that there a lot of gaps in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.

According to him, most corrupt cases in public offices emerge from procurement processes, hence the need for a robust audit processes.

He further stressed on the need for the government to strengthen its processes to prevent corrupt practices.

He said, “It is far more cheaper to prevent corruption than to enforce the law after it has happened.

“Fighting corruption is actually about issues that has to do with good governance, institutional reforms, doing things by the book, procurement and precess.

“There is no single kobo that can leave the government coffers without the procurement processes and that is where you see problems when it comes to the issue of public corruption.

“The awarding of contract, whether or not the contract has been executed, it is another way of taking the money out.

According to him, there is no study to state which sector has the most corrupt cases.

He stated that from January to 3rd June, the Commission has arrested 1,436 suspected cyber criminal across the federation.

“Looking at it from this perspective, you can say that the EFCC has arrested up to 100 people that are engaged in corruption.

“But if you look at recoveries that have been made within the same period, you can see that the oil and gas sector is coming on top in terms of where we recover money.

“And then we look at a lot of things happening in the private sector in terms of giving bribes, by and large I may not be able to say the area that is the worst, it depends on the variables and parameters you use to conduct such a study.

“There a lot of things going on in other sectors of the economy. I think we just have to change our attitude as Nigerians to look inward and do what we have to do.”