In addition to investigating 50 bank accounts as part of the ongoing investigation into the suspension of Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, and the former chief executive officer of the now-suspended National Social Investment Programme Authority (NSIPA), Halima Shehu, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recovered N30 billion for the Federal Government thus far.
President Bola Tinubu dismissed Shehu and Edu approximately three months ago due to suspected financial misconduct. Along with suspending the Social Investment Programme, the President also requested that the EFCC take up the case and look into the embattled officials as well as anybody else who may have been implicated.
Three months after the discoveries were revealed, Ola Olukoyede, the executive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated that the anti-graft agency was making progress with its investigation. He emphasised the seriousness of the issue and the need for Nigerians to be patient.
Olukoyede was quoted in the March issue of EFCCAlert, the commission’s monthly e-magazine, which LEADERSHIP was able to access on Monday.
Our investigations are guided by laws and regulations. Nigerians will also be aware that they are currently suspended, as a result of our investigations, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has demonstrated to them his readiness to combat corruption.
Furthermore, we have already recovered about N30 billion in this specific matter, and the Federal Government has access to it already. Investigative processes take time to complete; this case was initiated less than six weeks ago. Investigations into certain incidents take years. There are a tonne of perspectives on it. We also need to investigate some of the findings that we have already made. Nigerians should be patient with us; we have experts handling this case, and they must do it correctly. Numerous leads can be found here and there.
We are currently looking into more than 50 bank accounts that we have been able to track down. That is not a game for kids. That is very significant. You then inquire about the size of my workforce. And once more, we are currently working on thousands of other cases.
Nigerians have witnessed the results of our efforts thus far, as evidenced by the suspension of certain individuals and the progress we have made in their recovery. The programme itself has been suspended, as you have seen.
We are delving into a great deal of the findings that our inquiry has led us to make. Let them wait if it’s about seeing individuals in jail; there are procedures to be followed in everything. Olukoyede said, “So Nigerians should wait and give us the benefit of the doubt.”
