Amaechi accuses EFCC of bias in anti-graft fight
From Kelvin Ebiri, Port Harcourt

THE Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has condemned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for adopting what he considered as a discretionary method in the fight against corruption.





Amaechi has meanwhile pledged to continue to pursue programmes and policies that would promote good health of Rivers' citizens, particularly children, because of their central role in planning for the future.

In a statement issued by the Acting Chief Secretary to the governor, Blessing Wikina, the governor accused the commission, which has levelled allegations of corruption against some officials of his administration of wasting valuable time to create perceptions rather than fighting corruption as expected of it.

According to Amaechi, the job of the commission is to investigate alleged cases of corruption legally, and go to court for it to decide if the accused person is guilty or not.

He bemoaned a situation where the EFCC just picks up anybody it dislikes, without regard to the rule of law.

"I am tired of people fighting corruption by just picking up anybody they want to pick up. While fighting corruption, you must obey the law, because you were set up by law.

It's not good to bend the law as it pleases you and do things with impunity," he said.

"If every organisation or government abuses the law with impunity, what will the society look like?" he queried.

He said that the Rivers State government had a court judgment against the EFCC, and another court order restraining the commission from harassing or going near any Rivers State government official. He regretted that rather than obey the law, the EFCC was going ahead making publications against the state in violation of these court orders.

Amaechi said: "Everybody must be bound by the laws of the land, including the EFCC, and the state government."

He said the mere routine withdrawal of approved monies from the bank, by appropriate officials, did not in any way constitute corruption, as EFCC was making the world believe.

In the case of Rivers State, Amaechi said that summing up the total amount of payment vouchers and announcing it as fraud, was improper, asking: "What is the law on this, what are the standards?"

The governor said measures had been put in place by the state to fight corruption. He cited the state's due process bureau as one of the institutional frameworks, which had been established to reduce corruption.

He explained that salaries of all staff of government were now being paid through the banks to check cases of ghost workers in the state. "We have also set up the law on fiscal responsibility to guide our expenditure patterns in the state," he said.

Amaechi continued: "In fighting corruption, the first thing to do is to set up a clean system, because it is a faulty system that encourages people to get corrupt. Follow the laws because the laws are there, and let the system fight corruption, and not the discretionary style which EFCC is currently adopting nationwide."

The governor said his administration had decided to establish 150 primary healthcare centres in the state, as well as other health care facilities, and enjoined citizens to take full advantage of these facilities to improve their health.

He lamented that only 30 per cent immunization coverage had been achieved in the state in the past, assuring that his government would do everything possible to ensure full coverage of the state through adequate logistic support for the Ministry of Health.

He said government had provided one million insecticides treated nets to be given out free, with a view to reducing malaria-related infections among children and pregnant mothers.


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