The ongoing face-off between Zamafara State Governor, Bello Matawalle and the Chairman of Economic and Finacial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has taken a new dimension, with Civil Society Organisations and youth groups, calling on the anti-graft agency boss to step aside.

On the other hand, an aide of Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Daniel Bwala, has decried what he described as an attempt to blackmail the chairman of the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa.

One of the groups clamouring for the EFCC chairman’s removal, the Arewa Civil Society Organisations, yesterday said the EFCC chairman should resign or be fired over the alleged corrupt allegations.

In a statement yesterday, the chairman of the Coalition, Adamu Aminu Musa, noted that Abdulrasheed Bawa’s resignation at this point in time is sacrosanct in order to save Nigeria’s reputation.

“The fourth executive chairman, Mr Bawa, has been at the centre of so many corruption allegations even before his appointment as the chairman, which was believed to be surrounded by so many controversies and mysteries,” the statement alleged.

The statement added that Bawa operates like an emperor, using his office to intimidate, harass, and force people to do his bidding, including the banks, other government agencies, and innocent Nigerians, with the backing of his godfather, the Attorney General.

Adamu Aminu also alleged that Bawa forced the DG of NIMASA into sponsoring his family members to study abroad at the Centurion University of Technology and Management, Bhubaneswar, India.

He alleged that the EFCC chairman intimidated and harassed the NCC into giving his elder brother a job while he himself employed another member of his family in the EFCC’s Lagos Command.

Ohanaeze Youths Demand Bawa’s Removal

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, yesterday joined the growing list of those calling for the removal of the chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa.

The group made the demand in a statement signed by its National President, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike and made available to newsmen yesterday.

Nnabuike said the call became necessary as the EFCC was according to him drifting off its known credibility.

Okwu said the Igbo group was not surprised owing to earlier alarm that Bawa was compromised.

“This came to the fore when he unleashed the commission on Senator Ike Ekweremadu, a victim of circumstance, who was then facing charges in the United Kingdom.

“The EFCC under Bawa has never charged Ekweremadu for any crime, but while the lawmaker was in far away UK, he rushed and misled a Nigerian court to confiscate all his properties. Thank God that the court later reversed itself. This is just one of the major unholy and sponsored jobs of the EFCC under Bawa.

“In the history of the EFCC, no chairman of the commission has ever come under public scrutiny in such a short period of time like Bawa. The same goes for many of the staff under him, justifying the aphorism, ‘like father like son’.

“A few days ago, it was even reported that two of the staff members killed another colleague while they were fighting for exhibits. This shows how dirty the commission has become.

“Apart from the corruption fight taking a nosedive under Bawa, it is also no longer news that the EFCC under him has totally become a tool for political witchunt, it is now merely being used to settle political scores.

“Based on the foregoing, it is time for Bawa to pack his luggages and step aside as the Chairman of the EFCC. We even expected that he should have resigned on his own volition judging by some weighty allegations against him.

“However, since he is not ready to toe the path of honour, we advise President Muhammadu Buhari to do the needful by purging his government of all the ridicule brought upon his avowed anti-corruption stance by Bawa and the EFCC under him.

“But should Buhari fail to do so, the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu should consider it as one of his very first assignments- to make Bawa step aside and face investigation. This is the only way Nigerians would rekindle their hope on the anti-graft commission,” Okwu said.

Don’t Blackmail EFCC Chairman, Atiku’s Aide Tells Matawalle

An aide of Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has decried what he described as an attempt to blackmail the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa.

Atiku’s media aide, Daniel Bwala, made the remark while reacting to the allegation against Bawa by Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State.

Matawalle had accused Bawa of begging him for $2 million.

In an interview with BBC Hausa, the governor claimed he was being investigated because he “didn’t offer the EFCC chairperson the money he requested from him.”

The EFCC, however, dismissed the claim, stressing that it would not be drawn into a mud fight with a suspect under its investigation for corruption and unconscionable pillage of the resources of his state.

Reacting to the development, Bwala said the attempt to blackmail Bawa was shameful.

Tweeting, Bwala wrote: “If you want to remove Bawa as EFCC chair, at least be honourable about it and do that honorably.

“The idea that outgoing governors and cabinet people are being investigated so you instigate one of the suspects to blackmail him is, to say the least, shameful.

“Bawa, apart from improving upon the successes of Magu, has taken the commission to a more professional outfit where he draws accolades from far and near and deserves honor, not blackmail.

“If you have evidence against him, follow the due process of the law rather than blackmail.”