– Professor Yemi Osinbajo says the EFCC is independent and does not receive order from the presidency
– The vice president indicated that there was be no interference if the former president were to be arrested
– He described corruption as nation wide and must therefore be wiped out
The presidency has finally reacted to the question by some Nigerians on whether former president, Goodluck Jonathan will be arrested by the EFCC saying it was not the duty of the anti-graft agency and not the presidency.
There has been questions about whether the former presidency was culpable based on the alleged misappropriation of fund meant for the purchase of arms by the former national security adviser, Sambo Dasuki.
Dasuki who has been in detention has said that that Jonathan was aware of every financial engagement he participated in.
The former president also said that he did not believe Dasuki stole $2.2 billion as arms were bought during his administration.
The Punch reports that the vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo who spoke in Houston, Texas in a meeting with Nigerians in the US said the EFCC had been empowered to carry out its duty without interference from the federal government.
“Answering a question from the Internet on when former President Jonathan would be arrested, Osinbajo pointed out that the Buhari administration was not in the business of arresting people anyhow.
“He said all the Buhari administration did was to empower the security agencies and the anti-corruption agencies to do their jobs, without the administration trying to teleguide (monitor) them.”
Accroding to Mr. Laolu Akande who is the spokesperson of the vice president, Osinbajo said the fight against corruption was not an ethnic thing.
“Corruption is not an ethnic thing, there is an equal representation in the stealing as no one operates with his or her ethnic group alone, the culprits are in every case seen so far, united by greed to steal and not by ethnic or religious interest.”
The vice president noted that as much as $15 billion was stolen from the national treasury and that no responsible government would ignore that because it did not want to offend some people.
On the issue of the arrested judges, Osinbajo said the federal government was also trying to curb impunity and that the rule of law was followed because they were released within 24 hours after they had provided statements.
On the issue of herdsmen killing, he said about 800 herdsmen had been arrested across the country.
“The President has given firm instructions to the security agencies to arrest not only herdsmen, who are attacking communities anywhere in the country, but anyone of them or anyone at all in possession of firearms.
“There are about 800 of suspected violent herdsmen in the country who are currently in custody.”
He however lamented that the prosecution of the suspects was hindered by the slow judicial process.
