The
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has insisted that the fact that
a former governor of Abia State, Mr Orji Kalu, changed his political party
won’t stop the alleged corruption case involving him.
Spokesperson for the
commission, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, said on Tuesday during his appearance on
Channels Forum, a Channels Television programme which brings opinion leaders
and policymakers together to discuss and find solutions to Nigeria’s problems.
The
EFCC had charged Mr Kalu with fraud allegations running into billions of naira
when he served as governor of Abia State.
In January, A legal
practitioner, Kingsley Ekwem, declined to testify as a prosecution witness in
the trial of the former governor and two others over an alleged N3.2billion
fraud.
Kalu has defected from the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), while
members of the opposition party have continued to accuse the APC government of
a one-sided anti-corruption war.
Uwujaren, however,
maintained that the alleged corruption case against the former governor is
ongoing, stressing that joining the APC folk has no effect on the matter.
He said, “Yes, Orji Kalu
has left the PDP to APC; but that does not mean that his case under prosecution
has stopped. I can recall that on May 11, the prosecution closed its case in
that matter.
“That
case is going on and I don’t see how political association can affect the
matter that is being prosecuted in court. It has nothing to do with the
corruption allegations against him.”
The EFCC spokesman further
responded to the allegations of a one-sided anti-corruption fight and asked
Nigerians to be wary of the credibility of such accusation.
He explained that the
anti-graft agency goes through a process before a case can be prosecuted and
such is based on the strength of the evidence it has.
Uwujaren noted that those
who are being prosecuted by the EFCC are used to crying foul, insisting that
nobody is being prosecuted because he or she belongs to a particular political
party.
He said, “If you are
alleged to be corrupt, the question we should ask is ‘does the EFCC has the
evidence to prosecute you?’ We should not be concerned about whether somebody
is in APC or is in PDP.”
“The issue is ‘did you violate
the law; did you commit an offence?’ if you commit an offence then the agency
should have the liberty to take you to court. It will not be a matter of
vindictiveness, it should be a matter that is based purely on evidence and that
is what we are doing,” the EFCC spokesman added.
He further disclosed that
the EFCC has identified some cases which it believes it has enough evidence to
prove in court and it has begun to prosecute them.
Uwujaren reiterated that
belonging to a political party does not mean corrupt individuals are immune
from prosecution, pointing out that the immunity applies to only the four
categories of officials provided by the constitution.
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