The suspended Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has reportedly refused to cooperate with the Department of State Services (DSS), which is interrogating him over various allegations of abuse of office.
According to sources, Bawa has declined to write any statement in the custody of the DSS, saying his detention is unlawful and that he has no case to answer. He also accused the DSS of having no right to detain him without charges.
Bawa was invited by the DSS on Wednesday, June 14, shortly after he was suspended by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who also suspended the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, on the same week.
Emefiele, who has spent seven nights in DSS custody, is being questioned for alleged terrorism financing, economic sabotage, mismanagement of forex and the naira redesign policy, among others.
He reportedly implicated Bawa as an accomplice in the naira redesign scam that rocked the country some months ago. He claimed that Bawa was the one who raised a memo to former President Muhammadu Buhari, asking that the naira should be redesigned to stem money laundering during the 2023 election.
Bawa confronted him that he (Emefiele) and the former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, were the ones that came to him to raise the memo because they suspected Tinubu had warehouses stuffed with naira notes.
Bawa is also being investigated by the DSS for alleged misappropriation of proceeds of assets seized by the EFCC from suspects, among other issues. He was also accused of shielding former Governor of Zamfara, Abdulaziz Yari while helping him to hunt down his opponents.
The DSS obtained an ex parte order from the court during the week to continue the detention of Bawa beyond 48 hours so that his lawyers would not file a lawsuit claiming that his fundamental rights are being trampled upon.
However, Bawa has remained defiant and uncooperative with the DSS investigators. He maintains his innocence and insists that he has nothing to hide.
The suspension and detention of Bawa has raised concerns about the leadership crisis and corruption allegations that have plagued the EFCC since its inception in 2003.
Bawa became the youngest and first career officer to head the anti-graft agency in February 2021 after his predecessor, Ibrahim Magu, was suspended and removed by Buhari over similar allegations of corruption.
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