A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ekiti State, Lere Olayinka, has lauded the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, for “telling the truth” about the activities of some officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The party chieftain said that the monarch spoke the mind of Nigerians.
DAILY POST recalls that Oba Ewuare II recently accused some EFCC officials of taking instructions from the highest bidders while handling petitions.
In his reaction, Olayinka said in a statement on Thursday that the EFCC must purge itself of corruption for the war against corruption to succeed in the country.
He said: “Truth is, the main corruption that is fighting back is in the EFCC itself and the Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, said it all when he told Nigerians in January, this year that operatives of the anti-graft agency were taking bribes.
“Interestingly, five months after he handed down that damning verdict of corruption on operatives of the EFCC that he leads, Olukoyede is yet to show just one scapegoat that he has caught. Rather, it is still business as usual.
“If corruption is not the business of the EFCC as usual, the chairman won’t say on Television that he offered to give the former governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, preferential treatment.
“Or didn’t Olukoyede himself say on Television that he offered to give Yahaya Bello, a suspect in a corruption case EFCC is prosecuting, preferential treatment?
“Did he not ask Yahaya Bello to come to the EFCC office like a VIP and enter through his (Olukoyede) private gate where no one will see him?
“Isn’t that in itself corruption? Or is that how all EFCC suspects, including Yahoo Boys, are called on the phone and offered a red-carpet entrance to the anti-graft agency’s head office?
“Most importantly, what has happened to those the EFCC Chairman boasted a few months ago that their cases will be reviewed and won’t be swept under the carpet?” He further queried.