TheCable

Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says no one will be “untouchable” as the agency intensifies its anti-corruption crusade.

According to a statement issued by Wilson Uwujaren on Thursday, Magu said this at the 20th anniversary public lecture and award ceremony of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) which was held at the Top Rank Hotel, Utako, Abuja.

“We are winning the war against corruption, because the age of impunity is over, and never again would anyone be treated as sacred cow,” he was quoted to have said.

Uwujaren said, in his paper entitled, ‘Corruption and National Development: Issues, Challenges and Solutions’, Magu, who was represented by Tony Orilade, acting head, EFCC public interface unit, identified corruption as the main reason why Nigeria has been unable to fully reach its potential as the giant of Africa.

“We are blessed with both human and mineral resources. But why have we been unable to explore and exploit our potentials to the fullest? Your answer is as good as mine – corruption,” he was quoted to have said.

“Anywhere in the world where strict adherence to ethics and values by the citizenry is lacking, there will always be obvious deficit in morals, which is the antidote to corruption.

“As far as we are striving to fight corruption to a standstill in Nigeria, sadly, it is fighting back, really hard.”

Uwujaren said the EFCC acting chairman stated such attacks were not only being waged on the pages of newspapers, but also on operatives of the agency. Two of such, he said, occurred on August 16 in Abuja, and June 24 in Port Harcourt, where a top investigator was shot but escaped death by the whiskers.

“This is why I am using this platform and opportunity to call on you all, members of the fourth estate of the realm, to support the fight against corruption,” he was quoted to have said, adding “that the agency remained unrelenting in ensuring that we rigorously pursue our mandate of ridding Nigeria of all forms of economic and financial crimes”.

Magu was said to have urged the members of the press to explore the power of the pen, “to push for reforms in the judiciary, and society at large, by exposing corrupt elements”.