Mr. Auwal Rafsanjani, the Nigerian head of Transparency International, says the sacking of Abdulraheed Bawa as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) is not surprising to the international organisation during an interview with the news agency of Nigeria.
Mr. Rafsanjani, who also doubled as the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, said the allegations of abuse of office levelled against the former Chairman are “weighty.”
In his words, “The suspension did not come to us by surprise; this is because of the way and manner in which the previous regimes or governments have always removed the EFCC leaders when they came into power.”
He went further to say that “for this development, with regard to the removal of the EFCC chairman, we believe that already we knew that he was going to be removed because of so many political interests and changes that can happen.”
The Transparency International country head berated the politicisation of the activities of the EFCC, adding that it makes it difficult to function effectively as an agency.
He, however, advised that subsequent appointments to the agency must go beyond political considerations.