The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday in Abuja warned the main opposition party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), over recent allegations that the anti-graft agency had commenced moves to arrest some of its key leaders.
Chairman of the commission, Ibrahim Lamorde gave the warning during the launch of a new handbook, Red Alert on Scam.
The warning came on the heels of claims made by the APC Spokesperson, Lai Mohammed, that an order had been given by the Presidency to the EFCC to effect the arrest of key leaders of the party over ‘cooked up’ corruption cases.
The chairman who debunked the allegations, informed journalists that the commission has been neutral since the campaigns began, stating that the EFCC will not be dragged into politics barely few days to the polls.
“They said there is an order to arrest the leadership of the party. We do not want to get involved in any political discussion. We have tried to remain neutral since the campaigns started. Let us do the last lap peacefully,” Lamorde explained.
Speaking further, EFCC boss said: “Corruption has become an issue in this political campaigns. We cannot stop people from talking. The irony of it is that, some of them talking about corruption are standing trial. They are busy playing to the gallery. It is unfortunate. They do not see themselves first.
“Some of them have no business taking about corruption.
They are corruption personified. We want to remind them that they still have their day in court. If the media had been covering these cases in court, these politicians would not have been talking? The criminal justice administration of the country has to be looked at. You cannot fast track criminal cases in court,” he stressed.
Lamorde also clarified issues surrounding the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Charles Soludo, over his earlier alleged involvement in currency notes printing fraud, Lamorde said investigation revealed that he was not involved in the shady deal.
“We invited Charles Soludo in respect of the printing of currency notes. From the investigation conducted, we did not find anything Soludo was involved in. Our partners from UK wanted certain information. So, Soludo has been exonerated.”
