Abuja based Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, (CISLAC), Nigeria’s National Contact for Transparency International is up against the attack on Ibrahim Magu, the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC). CISLAC is lamenting the death of one of the policemen attached to the EFCC boss, describing his death as unfortunate.
This attack on the acting chairman’s farmhouse barely 48 hours after his declaration that the anti-corruption war will be a do-or-die affair further proves that there are unscrupulous elements, mostly Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) averse to the anti-corruption fight, declared CISLAC, saying it not surprised at the length these pro-corruption persons and groups would go to stop any anti-corruption process.
Asking the Acting chairman and the staff of EFCC not to succumb to threat(s) or intimidation by any persons or groups or relent in the fight against corruption, CISLAC is also calling on those it calls well-meaning, law-abiding citizens of this country, “irrespective of tribe or religion; the police and other security personnel; Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), and the media to stand their ground and support the fight against corruption in order to alleviate its devastating effect on our nation”.
Reiterating its own commitment to the anti-corruption drive in Nigeria and determination to continue its advocacy for institutional and operational strengthening of all relevant Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs) in carrying out their statutory mandate, CISLAC, however, recalls previous attacks on the EFCC, among them, the August 16th, 2017 attack on the Commission’s operatives by unknown armed groups as well as the June attack on an operative in the Fraud Section of the EFCC in Port Harcourt.
The strategy of attacking EFCC operatives would suggest heightening of the discord between proponents and opponents of anti-corruption war in a neo-colony. Those who believe that reality is a product of the synthesis of a thesis and its anti-thesis would be keen about what the synthesis would be in this case. But, can this tussle between two elephants be won or lost without the grass, (the masses) suffering? Who is ensuring that such doesn’t happen?
