‘Bawa Must Go’ Protest Continues In Lagos

Members of Civil Society Organisations numbering over 100, again, trooped out in large numbers in Lagos, on Monday, to continue what they called “Protest Against Politicisation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Disobedience of Court Orders and Infringement on Human Rights of Nigerians.”

Monday’s protest is the third since the top activists began their call for the sack of the EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa.

According to them, the EFCC, under Bawa, had turned itself into a sensational media agency, churning out deliberate misinformation constantly to strengthen a political cause. They added that responsible CSOs would not fold their arms and watch the country’s global anti-corruption outlook slip into a mess “all in the name of the anti-democratic tendencies of a few recalcitrant leaders.”

These protesters, were led on Monday by the Chairman, Centre for Anti-corruption and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran; Executive Director, Zero Graft Centre, Kolawole Sanchez-Jude; Chairman, Coalition Against Corruption and Bad Governance, Toyin Raheem; Executive Director, Centre for Public Accountability, Olufemi Lawson; Spokesperson for the Transparency and Accountability Group, Ayodeji Ologun; Director, Activists for Good Governance, Declan Ihehaire; and Ahmed Balogun of Media Rights Concern, among others.

Asked why the CSOs wanted Bawa to be sacked, the Chairman of CACOL, Debo Adeniran, said Bawa has to be removed because he has allegedly become an embarrassment to the fight against corruption in Nigeria.

According to him, a serial violator of a court order is not fit to be the Head of an agency that is supposed to sanitize society.

Adeniran, a foremost Nigerian anti-corruption activist, said, “We are not only asking him (Bawa) to quit, we are asking the authorities to remove him because he has become an embarrassment to the fight against corruption. Any act of dishonesty is corruption. Anything that is against the law that is deliberately done with impunity is corruption. It doesn’t matter how you feel about a case. Even if it is a drunken judge that gives a verdict on any issue taken to the court, you are bound to obey the court order.

“For several years, we have criticised the military regimes and civilian administrations that have ruled us with impunity. Impunity comes when the court is no longer seen as an arbiter between the people and the provisions of the extant laws. We rely on the courts to adjudicate in matters of conflict between the people and the system. And anytime anyone runs against the system, it is also the court that will adjudicate.

“A situation whereby somebody is so powerful, somebody is so influential, somebody sees that he has a larger-than-life image and decides that he is not going to respect our law courts or the laws of the land, it is against the rule of natural justice, it is against the ethos of democratic practice, it is against the principles of human rights. So, definitely, a serial violator of a court order is not fit to be the Head of an agency that is supposed to sanitize society,” he added.

Other CSO leaders present at the protest were Ochiaga Jude, Centre for Ethics and Good Governance; Cletus Okedube, Johnson Areola, and Barr. George Sanda, and lots more.