‘Bawa’s suspension raises doubt Tinubu will fight graft’

An anti-corruption group, Human and Environmental Development Agenda Resource Centre, has said Nigerians are in the dark regarding the anti-corruption agenda of the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

This was as the organisation expressed concerns over the suspension of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, by the Tinubu administration.

In a press statement signed by its Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, HEDA said, “It is now becoming a tradition for every regime, on the assumption of office, to decapitate the organisation (the EFCC) and send the wrong signal that will undermine the ongoing fight against corruption in the country.”

The anti-corruption group emphasised that “Nigerians are still in the dark regarding the anti-corruption agenda of the new administration that will give direction for its engagement of the cancer, especially an intra-party transition of power that makes difficult the work of anti-corruption agencies due to lack of political will on the path of the new government to bring to account its old allies; thereby making corruption a pressing issue that needs immediate attention.”

Suraju added that the circumstances surrounding past and current government officials, particularly those in public office who have been summoned by the EFCC, have not been adequately addressed.

“Instead of investigating these matters, the government has chosen to suspend the EFCC Chairman, signalling a lack of genuine interest in addressing corruption issues from both past and present administrations,” the statement read in part.

Suraju further expressed concern over what it called “the consistent pattern observed when it comes to the EFCC Chairman’s tenure,” stressing that no chairman of the commission had ever left the office in a dignified manner.