Do not succumb to intimidation, NLC tells EFCC

Against the backdrop of the recent attack on the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Abuja, organised labour has urged the commission and other related agencies to beef up security on their premises and personnel.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), condemning the attack by gunmen on the Area 7, Abuja, office of the EFCC, which houses key investigation units, said the agency should not succumb to intimidation, but to rather do all that is necessary to secure the organisation. 

The NLC president, Ayuba Wabba, noted that the organisation needed technical support to build its forensic capacity without which cases would lost or drag on indefinitely in court, thus exposing the personnel to danger.

“We also find it necessary to call on the government to give the commission the requisite support, including the setting up of dedicated courts for speedy disposal of corruption cases,” he said.                  

Wabba said the recent attack represents the audacity of corruption and the shifting of the battleground from the court room to the streets, and should be condemned by all those who love the country.

According to him, the attack was intended to deter operatives of the EFCC from carrying on to a logical conclusion their ongoing investigations/prosecutions.                        

He said, “In light of an earlier attack during which an operative sustained injuries, this cannot be a lone incident. Indeed, we see it as the new phase of corruption fighting back.

“While we are not insensitive to the manifest danger in this new phase of corruption fighting back, we urge the commission and its operatives not to succumb to these desperate tactics or intimidation.”

Wabba stated that labour had no doubt that the resort to violence shows that those behind the attack have come to their wits’ end.   

from The Sun News http://ift.tt/2uWHRvd
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