The Chairman of the Economic And Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, on Thursday assured that the commission will stop illegitimate funds from being used in the 2023 elections.
The Commission also said that it will continue to partner with INEC to curb voting buying in the country.
Bawa, said this in an interview with journalists in Abuja shortly after defending the budget of the commission before Senate Committee on Anti Corruption said:
“We will continue to do what we have to do, we are trying to ensure that illegitimate funds are not finding their way into our electoral processes.”
He said the commission in partnership with INEC would continue to arrest and prosecute persons involved in vote buying, adding that the cases of those arrested for vote buying in previous elections were in court.
Bawa also thanked the National Assembly for supporting the commission, via landmark legislation designed to further assist the commission deliver on its mandate.
“I want to use this opportunity to thank the National Assembly for their support as EFCC Chairman, particularly the committee on anti corruption.
“They have been with us 100 percent, you remember recently they have worked with us to pass landmark acts and legislations and the President has assented to it .
“So we are working with them toward ensuring that this country is free of economic and financial crimes,” he said.
On redesigning of the naira notes policy introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN):
“We welcome the policy, it is a good thing that the country is designing its currency, because how can you have an effective monetary policy, when you don’t have control over 85 percent of your currencies.
“Out there, people are holding it, people are using it to speculate on foreign currencies, and so coming out with this policy, the government is trying to contend with it,” he said.
The anti-graft Boss explained that with the new policy, the commission would be able to monitor people holding currencies legitimately and illegitimately, adding that “I am sure that those people that are holding back this money whether legitimately or illegitimately, we will be able to monitor and the right cause of the law will take its course.”
On fighting against cybercrimes, he urged the young people to support the commission to rid the nation of cybercrimes and other criminal activities associated with cyberspace,saying that the activities were tarnishing the image of the country in the global arena.
He revealed that as of Oct. 22, the commission succeeded in securing 2,847 convictions of cybercrime perpetrators.
“These are Nigerians from the youthful constituency, they should join me in fighting the scourge of Cybercrime, we are working, it is part of our mandate to fight cybercrime, to fight advance fee fraud, and we are working in conformity with the law.”
“As at October 22, we have succeeded in securing 2,847 convictions.”
“The activities of these cyber criminals are tarnishing our image as a nation across the Atlantic, which I believe we are not, but we are working, we are not deterred from ridding the nation of cybercrimes and other financial crimes and we will continue to do what we have to do.
“I am pleading with them not to be doing such things, at this time of transition of the country in terms of elections, in terms of the government’s efforts to see that the economy is back on track”, Bawa said.
