The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Wednesday said it had begun probe into the activities of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and other top government officials during the eight years of his administration.

Olusegun Obasanjo

The development was confirmed by the Head, General Investigations of the EFCC, Mr. Sanda Umaru, when an anti-corruption civil society group, the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, embarked on a protest to the Awolowo Road, Ikoyi office of the agency.

The leader of the group, Mr. Debo Adeniran, who led the large crowd of protesters to the EFCC, said the ongoing probe of the power sector by the House of Representatives would amount to nothing if Obasanjo, who had been mentioned by most of those who testified before the House panel, failed to appear.

The group therefore urged the EFCC to complement the efforts of the panel by probing the former president. To convince the group and Nigerians that Obasanjo was not a sacred cow, Umaru said, “We are fighting the same course. The truth about the matter is that we are on that issue (probing Obasanjo) at the moment.”

Umaru, however, added that the difference between the EFCC and CACOL was that CACOL wanted investigation to be conducted quickly while EFCC needed to be thorough.

He said, “You may not like the pace with which we are going in investigating Obasanjo. Ours is to ensure that we do things thoroughly.
“In so doing, we must not only display prudence, but we must be able to display professionalism so as to ensure that everything we do is in line with the scheme of things.
“You people are in a hurry, but we are telling you that we are on it and we will get to where we are going.
“You may not want it now, but we assure you that you will get results.”

He commended the method adopted by CACOL in its agitation for the probe of the former president, saying that the group was fighting for the good of the nation. Adeniran had earlier told Umaru that his group would not be satisfied if the House Committee on Power and Steel failed to compel the former president to testify before it in the ongoing probe of how his regime wasted about $16bn in the power sector without any result.

CACOL had last year taken a similar protest to the EFCC during which the group submitted written petitions against Obasanjo, listing areas which it insisted must be looked into.

Source: Punch