The Kogi State House of Assembly, on Monday, called for the sacking of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, over an alleged unprofessional handling of the corruption case against the immediate-past Kogi governor, Yahaya Bello. The call was made during plenary in Lokoja, the state capital.
They condemned the actions of the EFCC in recent weeks regarding the attempt to arrest the former governor of Kogi State; some of the actions included the siege to the Kogi State’s Governor’s Lodge in Abuja in an attempt to arrest Bello last Wednesday.
The legislators have claimed that the EFCC chairman has been attempting to assassinate both Bello and the incumbent Governor, Usman Ododo. They further claimed that the operatives of the EFCC had fired gunshots at the lodge of the governor on Wednesday in Abuja in an attempt to arrest Bello.
When the lawmakers raised the issue during deliberations on Monday, they raised concerns about the issues. The lawmaker matter was raised by the lawmaker representing Ankpa 1 State Constituency, Akus Lawal, who moved the motion for urgent importance and was supported by the lawmaker representing Ijumu State Constituency, Jacob Olawunmi.
He explained that in a situation of crisis in London, once he arrives at the Nigerian House, he will get relief. The same should be the case of Abuja; once there is a crisis scene in Abujam, upon arrival at the governor’s lodge, there should be relief. He alleged that the EFCC chairman had ordered the opening of fire on the governor of the state, which was an attempt to kill him. He explained that the chairman should explained why he had wanted to kill the state governor.
In the comments of the Majority Leader of the House of Assembly, Suleiman AbdulRazak, he claimed that the officials of the EFCC had begged the former governor to pretend to be arrested by the EFCC. He noted that the operation and allegations were embarrassing, claiming that the officials were acting on different orders from politicians in the country.
He called on the lawmakers to report the EFCC chairman to the president of the country, Bola Tinubu, for necessary action and to report on the attempted assassination of the former and present governors of the state. He noted that the EFCC only wanted to embarrass the state’s former governor.
The lawmakers stated that the EFCC had an agenda different from the fight against corruption, which was revealed by the commission’s approach to the issue of arrest. They called on all Nigerians to condemn the EFCC’s action.
Yahaya Umar, the lawmaker representing Omala State Constituency, noted that the EFCC’s act has been seen as unlawful and indicates an interest of the chairman not only in arresting the former governor but also in ridiculing his name among other Nigerians and going further to ridicule the state.
The Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Comfort Egwaba, explained that the actions of the EFFC have been to give the former governor a bad name, which has been done through their media trial; she claimed that the effect has not been sincere in its actions against the former governor of the state. She noted that all categories of individuals in the state would not accept the ridicule from the agency.
The Assembly, after deliberations, passed a resolution to ask President Tinubu to relieve the EFCC chairman of his job.
While presenting the resolutions of the lawmakers, the Speaker, Aliyu Yusuf, disclosed that the house of assembly in the state views the incident that took place regarding the allegations against the former governor on April 17 and September 18 as assassination attempts on the former Governor which also shows a threat to the life of the present governor of the state Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo.
They noted the unprovoked attack on the Governor’s Lodge and the firing of live rounds within a diplomatic residential zone also demonstrate that the EFCC has thoroughly marinated in a sense of its importance and power and now considers itself not only above the law but unanswerable to anyone or institution for its actions.
