- Attorneys-general of 16 states have reportedly filed a suit at the Supreme Court challenging the establishment of the EFCC.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said people who are under intense scrutiny and feeling the heat from it are the ones calling for the agency abolition.
The anti-graft agency said this in reaction to a suit challenging the constitutionality and legality of the law establishing it.
Attorneys-general of 16 states have reportedly filed a suit at the Supreme Court challenging the establishment of the EFCC.
They argued that in enacting the law which created EFCC in 2004, the national assembly did not adhere to section 12 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The section governs the incorporation of international treaties into domestic law.
They further noted that the EFCC Act cannot be applied to states that did not give their consent to its creation.
The supreme court has fixed October 22 to hear the case.
Olisa Agbakoba, a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), in two letters addressed to the constitution review committees of the senate and house of representatives, had stated that the creation of the EFCC violated existing laws.
However, Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer, and other civil society organisations faulted the move by the states.
But in an interview with Channels Television on Monday, Wilson Uwujaren, EFCC’s director of public affairs, voiced his concern over the development.
He said the agency was “worried and shocked” about the suit in view of the “corruption problem” in the country.
He said those challenging its legality are “feeling the heat” of anti-graft war adding that the country cannot survive without the anti-graft commission
Uwujaren maintained that the establishment of the EFCC followed due process in the national assembly.
He called on Nigerians to reject the move to “derail” the operations of the agency.
He said: “I am worried that with the kind of problem we have with corruption in this country, some people will go to court to challenge the legality of EFCC.
“What you see playing out today is simply people who are feeling the heat of the work of the EFCC, and they simply want to derail what is going on within the EFCC. They see EFCC as a threat”.
Uwujaren urged Nigerians to see through the gimmick of those behind the suit.
“We are really shocked by what is happening. Nigerians should see through this shenanigan and oppose it.
“I don’t see how this country can survive without the EFCC with the kind of corruption problem that we have in this country. Nigeria cannot do without the EFCC”, he added.