No fewer than 120 frontline anti-corruption civil society organisations (CSOs) have held a massive town hall meeting, in Lagos, to round off their week-long protest against what they called “politicisation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), disobedience of court orders and infringement on human rights of Nigerians” under the leadership of Abdulrasheed Bawa.
The protesters, who began to have a large following on social and conventional media, since their first public protest last Friday, gave the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, a seven-day ultimatum to effect the court order that committed Bawa to prison for contempt, noting that the EFCC’s alleged desperate recruitment of “counter-CSOs” would not help the commission.
According to them, though the first phase of the protest ended on Friday, the CSOs would jointly and individually petition relevant international agencies, demanding sanctions against Bawa until he becomes law-abiding and serves his jail term.
A spokesperson for the Transparency and Accountability Group, Ayodeji Ologun, insisted that the EFCC boss could not appeal the contempt ruling without first obeying the order, saying the Nigerian authorities were dangerously toeing the path of anarchy with the incessant disobedience of court orders, especially by an agency set up to stamp out corruption.
He said the politicisation of the EFCC was evident in the slant of its operations, noting that while a series of petitions were piled up unattended at the EFCC offices on monumental corruption across Nigeria, the commission’s boss had allegedly demonstrated that his task was mainly political vendetta.
The activists kicked strongly against the EFCC’s statement that they were hired CSOs, saying those on the struggle had been at the forefront of the fight against corruption for years and were well known for their doggedness and patriotism.
“When Bawa was still learning to wear his pants, or hiding in his parents’ home, many of us here were already at the barricades fighting for democracy and the office he is enjoying today.
“Back then, nobody paid us to fight for justice. Whoever is saying we were paid to do this must be thoroughly examined. We are strictly activists, not political jobbers,” Director, of Activists for Good Governance, Declan Ihehaire, said.
