The Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption,
PACAC, Prof. Itse Sagay, SAN, has told the Acting Chairman of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to report the Department
of State Service, DSS to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Sagay was reacting to the report that the DSS on Tuesday stopped officials of the EFCC from arresting Ita Ekpenyong, a former Director General of the agency.
According Sagay, Magu should write a letter on the clash between the EFCC and the DSS to Buhari.
Officials of the DSS and EFCC were involved in a showdown for over 13
hours on Tuesday when the EFCC operatives stormed homes of Ekpenyong,
and ex-DG of NIA, Ayo Oke, to arrest them.
Sagay told Punch, “I think the EFCC should refer the matter to the
President so that he can take action because the President is the
overall boss and if people are misbehaving like that, preventing
agencies from doing their work, then there should be a penalty for
misconduct.
“We all know that the law empowers the EFCC to investigate, arrest
and prosecute and they have the right to interrogate and invite you and
if you refuse to come, they can arrest you.“So, anybody, who refuses, that is engaging in lawlessness and is
trying to turn the country into a chaotic state of lawlessness which is
certainly not good for the country.
“No one is immune from arrest except the President, Vice-President, governor and deputy governor.
“The DSS procedures do not supersede the laws of the land. The EFCC Act does not require the agency writing to anybody first.
“They cannot make a law that supersedes that of the National
Assembly. The excuses of the DSS are just a way of covering up sheer
lawlessness.”