The attention of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to some
reports in the print and online media, on April 20, 2016 claiming that
the anti-graft agency has decorated the Deputy Senate President, Ike
Ekweremadu, as “Anti-Corruption Ambassador”.
Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu
According to a statement issued to the Press by the Special Adviser
to the Deputy Senate President, Uche Anichukwu, the purported
decoration, was carried out by the EFCC National Assembly Liaison
Officer, Suleiman Bakari who was quoted to have said: “ On behalf of my
acting chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Mustafa Magu and the entire management and
staff of the EFCC, decorate you as an Anti- Corruption Ambassador and
formally present this frame, as a token of our appreciation to your
person and office, and as a symbol of the institutional partnership
between the EFCC and the National Assembly”.Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu
The EFCC totally dissociates itself from the purported action of Sulaiman Bakari as he acted entirely on his own. He clearly acted outside his brief as a liaison officer as the management of the Commission at no time mandated him to decorate Ekweremadu or any officer of the National Assembly as Anti- Corruption Ambassador.
The statutory mandate of the EFCC is the investigation and prosecution of all economic and financial crimes cases, which does not include the decoration of individuals as anti- corruption ambassadors. The Commission is not in the habit of awarding titles to individuals. And those enamoured of titles, knows the quarters to approach for such honours, not the EFCC
Members of the public and stakeholders in the fight against corruption are enjoined to disregard the so-called decoration.