‘Bawa, Emefiele destroying integrity of President Buhari’

Kogi State Government on Wednesday alleged that the duo of Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa and Governor Godwin Emefiele who heads the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC( and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) respectively are destroying the integrity of President Muhammadu Buhari with their anti-people polices.

Addressing a press conference in Ilorin, the Kogi state commissioner for Information and Communication, Kingsely Fanwo, advised President Muhammadu Buhari to call the duo to order before they throw the country into a huge crisis with their disdain for the rule of law.

Fanwo who alleged that the EFCC had “derailed from its primary aim of fighting corruption to becoming the political tool in the hands of brutal minds in the pursuit of evil causes,” said the failed attempt by the EFCC to make Nigerians believe that a 20 billion naira bailout loan was placed in a phantom fixed deposit account with Sterling Bank Plc resulted in “the current display of desperation of Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, the Chairman of the EFCC to paint the Kogi State Government and its officials in the colours of corruption at all costs”

The commissioner who described the Central Bank of Nigeria as “a willing collaborator and a co-hater of the justice system,” said despite claiming to have received the phantom funds from Sterling Bank, the CBN has not “provided any clarification to the Kogi State Government, whose funds it allegedly received from Sterling Bank, even after three reminders.”

He however stressed that the Kogi State Government “will not give in to any intimidation or threats by the convicted Abdulrasheed Bawa using the EFCC and taxpayers’ resources at its disposal to fight personal and proxy battles”.

The Commissioner said as a government with the utmost respect for the rule of law, “we see the EFCC Chairman as a convict, he has been convicted by a high court, a court of competent jurisdiction and that conviction is yet to be set aside or vacated by the court or higher court.”

Responding to a live press briefing by a group on Tuesday, in support of the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Fanwo said, “The recent press conference by some ‘very rich’ ‘CSOs’, recklessly delivering the lines of their highly placed power-drunk sponsors in Abuja that could afford live telecast on many TV stations simultaneously, has further shown how some people in high places feel the rule of law does not matter.

“The reason the Kogi State Government went to court to challenge the Naira Redesign Policy, especially the date the old naira will cease to be legal tender, was borne out of the need to defend the survival and the economic rights of Nigerians. The hardship experienced by Nigerians from all walks of life who could not and still cannot access the new naira notes is horrible.

“Nigerians do not deserve such extreme hardship. As a Government of the people, the Kogi State Government teamed up with the Government of Kaduna and Zamfara States and proceeded to the Supreme Court, which in the interim restrained the CBN from enforcing the deadline for the validity of the naira notes as legal tender. The CBN, like its collaborator-in-chief, the EFCC, ignored and disobeyed the ruling, therefore undermining the authority of the apex court of the land.”