The House of Representatives has begun the amendment of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Act to exclude all former ex-security officers from being appointed as chairman of the anti-graft agency.Instead, the lawmaker had proposed that only serving or retired Justice of the Supreme Court, or the Court of Appeal should be eligible for the position.
?Only two weeks ago, the Senate had resisted moves to merge the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
The lawmakers made this move when they scaled a bill to amend the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act through second reading yesterday.
The amendment, sponsored by Hon.? Bassey Ewa, is in three parts; it also seeks for
all petitions to the commission to be filed under oath, even as it proposed that a special investigative unit within the EFCC, to be headed by a retired Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) of police be established.
According to the lawmaker, the development is to control the volume of frivolous petitions flooding the commission, adding that acting on anonymous petitions violates the Evidence Act, which requires a petitioner to be identified and placed as a witness.
Leading debate on the general principles of the Bill, Ewa explained that the amendments were conceived to reposition the commission which he said has become a political tool against perceived enemies.
Ewa said; “Let’s face it, the EFCC now has become a tool used for witch hunt, and its mode of operation has been outside the law.
“That is because, they have allowed themselves to be used and the laws are not followed. A person that has worked so hard and earned a name in the highest courts will not allow him or herself to be used by
anybody after retirement.”
?Speaking in support of the amendment, Hon Uzor Azubuike (Abia) noted that “ordinarily, the law says a suspect is to be treated as innocent until proven guilty; but at the EFCC, it otherwise. They are treated as guilty until proven innocent.”
Other members who spoke criticised the commission under Mrs Waziri, especially for continually reeling out hundreds of charges against suspects; but usually ending up without strong convictions.
If passed, the present chairman of the EFCC, Farida Waziri, a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police and current chairman of the EFCC automatically be disqualified from heading the anti-graft body.