The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has secretly frozen the bank accounts of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s associates. It learnt that the move by the anti-graft agency was aimed at scuttling the transfer of the alleged looted funds from the accounts for other reasons
A member of a transition committee of the All Progressives Congress on Friday, said the need had become necessary in view of the magnitude of the alleged theft of public resources by the affected persons.
The APC chieftain spoke on the heels of the condemnation of President Buhari’s ongoing probe of the last administration of the Peoples Democratic Party and recovery of funds looted by public officials.
The source, who is now in the Presidency, said although he could not confirm if Jonathan’s recent meeting with Buhari discussed the issue, the action to ‘flag’ the said accounts of his associates might have been for security reasons.
The source also said the opposition Peoples Democratic Party was ignorant of the workings of the Federal Government, especially on security.
The source added,
“This is not a matter of lobby or any politics that should be shoved aside; what is at stake is the nation’s security and nothing more.
“When the PDP says the current anti-corruption drive is selective, we continue to laugh at them because they do not seem to know what is at stake at all. If only they know, all the noise they have been making won’t be made at all.
“How many of these PDP elements know that just one individual benefitted from a single NIMASA transaction to the tune of N13bn, not to talk of about $57m he was said to have benefitted from controversial contract deals?
“Are these the things they ask us to sweep under the carpet? Certainly, we cannot because apart from the angle of the impunity and financial recklessness, does it make any sense if any responsible government allows such individuals, who had threatened war in the event that Jonathan did not win to have such huge sums in bank vaults? Such accounts must be flagged, of course.”
However, the PDP has asked President Buhari to follow the rule of law in his government’s determination to fight corruption.
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Olisa Metuh, in an interview with a Pucnh correspondent on Saturday night, asked the President not to spare anyone, including his friends and members of the ruling APC in the crusade.
Metuh said:
“We are not against the war against corruption, but what we are saying is that the President must follow the rule of law.
“The law says every accused person is innocent until proven otherwise. Then, the President must also look at his party; he shouldn’t spare his friends.
“If any of our members is found to be corrupt, let them face the law of the land. But no one should be tagged as being corrupt when the court has not said so.”
He also asked the President to fund the anti-corruption agencies adequately, while saying that the agencies should also conduct what he described as “water-tight investigations” before rushing to the court.
Punch