Thirty-two Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) on Monday staged a protest to the Lagos zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), demanding the prosecution of those involved in the budget padding scandal raging in the House of Representatives. Speaking to the CSOs, EFCC Deputy Director, Operations, Mr. Iliyasu Kwarbai said, “It is on record that over the years, the National Assembly has promoted corruption as direct policy, with such an alarming rate of impunity and arrogance being above the law. The issue of padding in the National Assembly in which some allegations have been raised against the Speaker and some other persons, we are already in receipt of petitions from some other members of the public and investigation is going on in Abuja. EFCC does not cover any one, whoever is involved will be dealt with strictly according to law. Anybody who is involved in corruption, no matter how highly he or she is, we don’t cover any person, once we have received a petition, investigate it and once the person is indicted, we invite the accused and on the case of the budget padding, they will never go free. We are very happy that you are here and we are in solidarity with you. We are very happy that you are joining us in the fight against corruption. The fight is not for EFCC alone, it is for everybody.”
previous post