By Chesa Chesa
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, disclosed on Thursday in Abuja that the number of State Governors the Commission has placed under watch for possible money laundering has increased from three.
He made the disclosure to State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa in Abuja after he emerged from a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, in Abuja.
Bawa, however, declined to give a specific number of Governors the Commission is now keeping an eye on as the Central Bank sets to introduce redesigned Naira notes in exchange for the old currency.
He had announced two weeks ago that EFCC had placed surveillance on activities of three Governors following what appeared to be money laundering as a result of the new monetary policy.
Underscoring the usefulness of the EFCC EagleEye virtual app for reporting criminal hoarding of monies, among other financial crimes, Bawa said: “EagleEye is a novel idea of the EFCC that we launched for the ease of reporting crime to us. Nigerians can easily download it on their phones, either Android or Apple or whatever.
“Let me use this opportunity to remind Nigerians that EagleEye is very important for those that are reporting the hoarders of these currencies that we know are out there.
“On the issue of the Governors that we are monitoring, in fact, the numbers have even increased. We are monitoring everything.”
Bawa also lauded the proposal to redesign the Naira, calling it a crucial step in the nation’s fight against financial crimes and other types of corruption.
He asserted that the enormous amount of the nation’s currency that has escaped the control of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) makes it difficult to track down financial crimes, noting that the redesigning of the naira is a chance for the government to retake control over the flow of money in the nation.
Bawa, however, appealed to politicians to go about their campaigns without using illegitimate funds in their electioneering activities.
“For politicians the message is very clear, they should sell themselves, they should talk about issues. We want to hear about how they are going to solve the problems, not what the problems are.
“Then, of course, we encourage that they shouldn’t use illegitimate funds in their campaign finances and all of that.”
