The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has refuted allegations that it is being used to harass political opponents of President Goodluck Jonathan.
The agency also denounced allegations by the spokesperson for Muhammadu Buhari Presidential Campaign Organisation, Shehu Garba, that the EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, has been accused of corruption, stressing that there is no truth in the claim.
The Head, Media and Publicity, EFCC, Wilson Uwajaren, who said this at at a news conference in Abuja on Friday, described as forgery a document containing the names of certain opposition figures said to have been marked for probe by the commission on the instruction of Chief of Staff to the President.
Uwajaren dismissed claims that the commission was owing its staff, stressing that the EFCC achieved 92 per cent implementation of 2014 budget on personnel emolument.
The EFCC spokesman said Garba had nursed a grudge against the anti-graft agency over the years as the spokesman for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
He said, “For the avoidance of doubt, there is no truth whatsoever in the claim by Shehu that the ‘EFCC Chairman is accused by staff of corruption, the commission staff is also being owed salaries and entitlements, having not been paid for three months.’ The EFCC is alarmed by this claim.
“The chairman of the commission is respected in the law enforcement circles for his integrity and professionalism. Furthermore, the claim that the staff of the EFCC are being owed three months is the figment of Shehu’s imagination.
“As a spokesperson for the respected General, Shehu must be careful not to mask his personal views as those of Gen. Buhari or APC. We find it hard to believe that the views expressed by Shehu are those of Buhari or the All Progressives Congress.”
