The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has slammed suspended Humanitarian Minister, Betta Edu, her predecessor, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, and the Coordinator of the National Social Insurance Programmes Agency, Halima Shehu, while revealing that a combined total of N32.7bn and $445,000 has been recovered so far from the ministry.
The commission made the development known on Sunday while dispelling commentaries, opinions, assumptions, and insinuations concerning the progress of its mobile investigations into the alleged financial misappropriation in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
The statement signed by the spokesperson for the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, said the recoveries were made after past and suspended officials of the Humanitarian Ministry were invited by the commission.
Earlier, a coalition of 10 Civil Society Organisations under the aegis of Civil Society Groups Against Defamation Initiative, had urged President BolaTinubu to promptly reinstate Edu should the ongoing investigations exonerate her from any wrongdoing.
However, in the Sunday night statement, Oyewale said, “The EFCC has noticed the rising tide of commentaries, opinions, assumptions and insinuations concerning its progressive investigations into the alleged financial misappropriation in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development.
“At the outset of investigations, past and suspended officials of the Humanitarian Ministry were invited by the Commission and investigations into the alleged fraud involving them have yielded the recovery of N32.7bn and $445,000 so far.
“Discreet investigations by the EFCC have opened other fraudulent dealings involving Covid -19 funds, the World Bank loan, Abacha recovered loot released to the Ministry by the Federal Government to execute its poverty alleviation mandate. Investigations have also linked several interdicted and suspended officials of the Ministry to the alleged financial malfeasance.
As it is now, we are investigating over 50 bank accounts that we have traced money into. That is no child’s play. That’s a big deal. Then you ask about my staff strength.
“And again, we have thousands of other cases that we are working on. Nigerians have seen the impact of what we have done so far, by way of some people being placed on suspension and by way of the recoveries that we have made. You have seen that the program itself has been suspended. We are exploring so many discoveries that we have stumbled upon in our investigation.
“If it is about seeing people in jail, well let them wait. Everything has a process to follow. So Nigerians should wait and give us the benefit of the doubt.”
The EFCC further called for a united front in the fight against corruption while urging the judiciary and legislative arms to assist the commission in its anti-corruption fight.
Olukoyede added, “Nobody can fight the corruption war alone. So, we want Nigerians to believe in our capacity to fight this battle. We must also come together and agree that corruption is bad, and so when we are prosecuting corrupt persons, Nigerians should believe in it.
“We expect Nigerians to also appeal to their conscience because the negative impact of corruption is all over for all to see. So we must agree that what is wrong is wrong.
“I also appeal to other stakeholders – the National Assembly and the judiciary to support us in this mission. Every Nigerian must be a corruption fighter. When you see something wrong, say something. Challenge corrupt politicians in your locality. Take them up. Take your governors up on the allocations they receive and make them accountable. By so doing, you will be supporting the fight against corruption.”
Punch