Erasmus Alaneme
2 December 2008
Abuja — Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), took its war against corruption to another step yesterday with the declaration of five officials of the Rivers State government wanted for alleged misappropriation, money laundering and fraudulent diversion of funds to the tune of N3.6billion.
The Commission in a statement made available to Daily Champion in Abuja and signed by its head, media and publicity, Mr. Femi Babafemi listed the permanent Secretary, Government House, Port Harcourt, Mr. Robert C. Aya, as one of those wanted.
Others included Mr. Fubara Kingsley Hart, director of Finance and Administration; Mr. Harrison B.A. Princewill, Mr. Nathan Wike both said to be staff in the government house while Mr. Bright Ikonwa, a cashier in the same government house is the fifth affected person.
The statement added that said: having useful information as to their whereabouts should contact the Commission in its Enugu, Port Harcourt, Kano, Lagos, Gombe and Abuja offices or through these numbers: 09-6441111, 08069842195 or the nearest Police Station and other security agencies."
It would be to recalled that following the uproar caused by the EFCC when it arrested some officials of the State government in the wake of the corruption war in the state, Rivers State Government had made it clear that its officials would not appear before EFCC again.
The Rivers Government had at that time dared the anti-graft body to arrest any of its official, brandishing a court order restricting the EFCC from cover any of the said officials to appear.
Media consultant to the Rivers State Government, David Iyofor, had told Daily Champion on phone that appearing before the EFCC would amount to Rivers officials disobeying court order which restricts them from doing so pending a substantive ruling on the case.
Iyoform said: "The unfortunate decision by EFCC to declare some of our state officials wanted is a gross violation and total disregard of a subsisting court order. We have a Federal High court order restraining the EFCC from doing anything on the matter until the substantive matter is determine. The order is very clear that EFCC cannot harass arrest or declare wanted, any official of the Rivers state government.
Also, we are aware that the legal department of EFCC has advised the operations department not to go ahead and declare our state officials wanted, because of the subsisting court order.
"The wicked decision to declare them wanted is aimed at embarrassing the governor, government and people of Rivers State. They just want to embarrass us. This act by EFFC shows clearly that it has no respect or regard for court orders, rule of law and due process".
He said EFCC was only playing to the gallery because it has no case, adding that the court order supersedes the invitation and threat by the EFCC.
Spokesperson for the EFCC, Babafemi had then promised that it is only a matter of time before the Commission declares the affected Rivers State officials wanted and as at yesterday, the EFCC made well its threat to declare them wanted officially.
A source at the EFCC had told Daily Champion that the commission will not only declare the officials wanted but make their details available to other international security agencies to ensure they are brought to book.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Daily Champion. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
