The South-East Zonal Head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, Mr. Johnson Babalola, on Friday June 9, 2017, was a guest at the Enugu State Broadcasting Corporation, on their television programme ‘POINT OF VIEW’, where he addressed some pressing issues bothering on the activities of the Commission and the hydra-headed monster called corruption.
While responding to the various issues raised by the anchor of the programme Mr. Chris Anigbogu, Babalola debunked the assertion that EFCC is under the control of any person Nigerian whether in the past or present. “EFCC is not tied to the apron strings of any Nigerian” said Babalola.
The Head of Operations further warned Nigerians against allowing themselves to fall prey to the baits of most ponzi operators who go about making bogus promises that are visibly unattainable. According to him, “Nigerians must be careful, when an individual is making promises of paying them interests already higher than that of the CBN, when he or she is not running a refinery, the public must be careful and avoid such deceit, because even when the monies are recovered from these operators I do not have the mandate to line people up and release the money to them. Government has a designated account for recovered funds”.
He further explained that the ‘Walk Against Corruption’ held in May by all offices of the Commission including the Head Office was aimed at creating more awareness geared towards seeking active involvement of all Nigerians in the fight against corruption by becoming whistle blowers.
Babalola ended the interview with a clear statement that the EFCC does not have selected targets, but that its target has been and still remains any and everyone found to be corrupt, whether a politician or not. “if you say EFCC is witch hunting you, why have you made yourself a witch for EFCC to hunt, the issue is that those people that EFCC are pursuing, are they clean, are they saints, have they not committed the offence for which they are being pursued? Look, we owe it a point of duty to make this country work”, Babalola said.
