EFCC debunks face-off with AGF

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says there is no existing or impending face-off between it and the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

Mr Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC spokesman, debunked the face-off in a statement issued on Thursday in Abuja.

He said that media reports suggesting there was conflict between both parties were the handiwork of “some unscrupulous persons.’’

The EFCC and other anti-graft agencies were reported to have turned down a demand by the AGF, Mr Abubakar Malami, for case files of ex-governors and senators under investigation.

Media reports had suggested that the “crisis of confidence’’ between the AGF and the anti-graft agencies, particularly the EFCC, would undermine the anti-corruption war of the current administration.

Uwujaren said that the reports emanated from the imaginations of “corrupt elements, angling to knock heads together in furtherance of their own pro-corruption agenda.’’

“For the avoidance of any doubt, the EFCC wishes to categorically state that it is compliant with all provisions of law, and has no intention to stoke misunderstanding over requests from the office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.

“Furthermore, the commission’s mandate, operational philosophy, the conduct and pronouncements of its officials, do not countenance any activity on the fringes of the law.

“It is, therefore, untenable for there to be any suggestion that the EFCC or the commission’s principal officials are either in conflict with or readying for “showdown” with the AGF or other officials of government.

“Any such conflicts being paraded in the media exist only in the apparently fertile imaginations of corrupt elements, angling to knock heads together in furtherance of their own pro-corruption agenda.

“All the brouhaha raised in recent days over a non-existent conflict between the EFCC and the office of the AGF, only go to underline the fact that corruption can, and is fighting back, in a variety of ways.’’

Uwujaren emphasised that the EFCC, as agency set up by law, could never breach the law of the land or disobey constituted authority.