Ex-Edo Lawmaker Gives EFCC 14 Days to Reopen Atiku Case

Former lawmaker Ehiozuwa Johnson Agbonayinma has given Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission 14 days to reopen and begin prosecuting corruption allegations against former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, or face legal action.

Agbonayinma, who represented the Egor/Ikpoba-Okha federal constituency and belongs to the All Progressives Congress, based his demand on an EFCC investigation from 2005-2006 and a separate investigation by a U.S. Senate subcommittee. He argued that the agency’s failure to prosecute Atiku had caused Nigeria serious embarrassment.

“

Grand corrupt practices involving Atiku who was then Vice President of Nigeria.

A letter dated Aug. 27 and addressed to EFCC Executive Chairman Ola Olukoyede recalled a report titled “The EFCC report on Vice-President Abubakar Atiku (Full report),” dated September 2006. The petition said the report established allegations involving corrupt practices, money laundering, financial crimes and other criminal acts. It also said the EFCC had pledged to prosecute Atiku after he left office, because constitutional immunity had protected him while he was vice president.

“

The report established serious allegations of corrupt practices involving sleaze, money laundering, and other serious financial crimes and other criminal acts against Alhaji Abubakar Atiku.

Agbonayinma called the alleged failure to act a “deliberate dereliction of duty” and said it violated the law establishing the agency. While praising the EFCC’s prosecution of other corruption cases, he described the Atiku matter as a reference point that could suggest the agency was unwilling to pursue corruption involving powerful individuals.

Atiku dismissed the demand and called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to disclose his own records concerning allegations of involvement in hard-drug dealings. The report said Tinubu had allegedly forfeited more than $460,000 to the U.S. government in 1993.

“

Deliberate dereliction of duty