“Resign before you wreck EFCC” – Ex-APC spokesman tells Olukoyede

A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank has called on Ola Olukoyede to resign his position as the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Frank in a statement issued on Tuesday accused the anti-graft agency of abandoning its constitutional mandate and operating as a political tool of the ruling party.

He also urged Olukoyede to resign in order to save the agency which he said now conducts itself in a manner inconsistent with the laws of the land.

According to Frank, the Commission had brought “shame and disrepute” upon itself through what he described as selective prosecution and political bargaining.

“We have unfortunately reached a point in our country where it has become difficult to distinguish between a Commission statutorily saddled with the responsibility of fighting economic and financial crimes and one that appears to operate as an arm of the ruling party,” Frank said.

The former APC scribe said the EFCC has “recklessly abandoned its core mandate of combating corruption” and instead assumed “the role of negotiating the calculated movement of political actors from opposition parties to the ruling party.”

He also cited several high-profile cases to support his claims, beginning with former Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa.

“The EFCC Chairman once publicly threatened to resign if he was not given a free hand to prosecute Yahaya Bello,” he recalled. “Yet, after a visit to the Commission and another round of ‘discussions,’ the case no longer enjoys the same urgency or prosecution vigour.

“One must ask: was the Chairman of the EFCC unaware of this constitutional principle at the time he was publicly singing and dancing over the alleged crimes attributed to the same individual?” Frank queried.

He further challenged the Commission to extend the same public defence to other suspects.

“The Commission should also do well to act as the spokesperson for other suspects, such as former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, former CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, the Commissioner of Finance, Bauchi State, Yakubu Adamu, and a host of others,” he said.

Frank raised what he called “fundamental questions” about the EFCC’s operations.

“Why were Godwin Emefiele and Abubakar Malami not accorded the same treatment? Is it because they are yet to decamp to the ruling party? Why has the EFCC embraced selective prosecution?” he queried.