Lateef Fagbemi, a ministerial nominee from Kwara, has suggested the idea of separating the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) into separate entities.
Fagbemi said this at the screening of the last batch of 28 ministerial nominees sent by President Bola Tinubu to the Senate.
“The truth must be told, you fight corruption, but at the same time, the way it’s fought in Nigeria leaves much to be desired. That is the truth. If I have my way, I will advise the President to unbundle, first of all, bring out ICPC and EFCC together and unbundle them,” he said.
Fagbemi explained that the investigation of criminal offences should not be handled by the same body, adding that there must be a supervisory authority within the same system.
“If there is investigation, it is another body; prosecution is another body. It doesn’t augur well to ask the same authority to do investigation and come and do prosecution. That is when we have a problem,” the ministerial nominee stated. “Investigation takes time, especially in serious corruption cases. Are we prepared to wait?”
His take “is that a situation should be created such as the one that happened when Hushpuppi was arrested. They had been trailing him for years, he didn’t know and nobody will talk to him. But the day they said the time was up, he also knew that the time was up.”
Fagbemi also mentioned that the investigation should be thorough.
“It shouldn’t be that when a given governor leaves office, let’s go; EFCC is investigating you. That is not the way to investigate criminal matters,” said the nominee. “You can take your time to prosecute, but when you not, and it should be like the way an average American will react when the FBI knocks at the door.”
(NAN)
