Some enraged Rivers State youths are accusing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of rapidly turning into a repressive weapon for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
They were chatting with Newsmen as the anti-graft agency declared Siminalaye Fubara, the state’s immediate past Accountant-General, and 58 others wanted for suspected N435 billion fraud.
The EFCC move was purportedly intended at delaying the recruitment of Fubara as the Peoples Democratic Party’s gubernatorial candidate, according to Johnson Abiye, an Ijaw teenager (PDP).
‘’As I see it, most of the drama of EFCC under the pretence of fighting corruption are politically motivated. In the case of Fubara, I think they did not want him to emerge as the successor of Governor Nyesom Wike, he served as the chief account officer of the state’’, says Abiye.
Interestingly, Fubara, has emerged the governorship candidate of PDP in the state. He defeated nine other aspirants of the party to win the keenly contested election, polling 721 out of the 980 votes to win.
While Fubara is said to be the preferred candidate of Governor Wike, former Commissioner of Finance, Isaac Kamalu, scored 89 votes to come second in the poll.
For Emma Wogu, an Ikwerre youth, ‘’EFCC has always been meddling in the affairs of Rivers state during election season. Their antics in our state started during the administration of Dr. Peter Odili. They tried the same scare politics during the administration of Chibuike Amaechi.
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‘’It is therefore not surprising to some of us that they are now coming after Wike who has been a thorn in the flesh of the Buhari administration. I wish to advise them that there is limit to the tolerance of Rivers youths.’’
Despite the sentiments of the youths, it is, however, been claimed that there is a systemic looting of the state funds by Governor Wike, thus giving a seeming credence to allegations of the state wing of APC that the outgoing Governor Wike has been allegedly milking the state dry using proxies and phoney deals.
While EFCC declared Fubara wanted for an alleged fraud of N435 billion, Wike’s antagonists are even alleging that the outgoing governor has swindled the state of over N1.00 trillion using different accounts of the state in some commercial banks.
However, Fubara, the PDP governorship candidate and four other state government officials, among others, are wanted for suspected N117 billion fraud, alleged criminal conspiracy, money laundering, misappropriation of public funds, and abuse of office. The EFCC stated in a statement.
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Head of EFCC’s Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, is calling on the general public to assist in apprehending the 2023 governorship candidate and other suspects.
“We call on anyone with useful information as to the whereabouts of the Account-General to contact any of the agency’s offices or the nearest police station or other security agencies”, says EFCC’s spokesperson.
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