The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has warned parents to dissuade their wards from what it claimed as ongoing mobilisation by corrupt interests to stage protests aimed at derailing the commission from its moves to sanitise the society of corruption.
Although the commission pulled back from using the Kenyan protests as a symbol of the planned protests against the EFCC, the commission in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Dele Oyewale referenced the mobilisation of youths for what it termed as an unwanted dislocation of order in the society.The EFCC in its warning on the alleged moves to frustrate its fight against corruption, said:
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, wishes to alert the general public on the plan by a shadowy group to instigate a “protest” against the Commission.
Within the last couple of days, the group has been actively campaigning in the social media, recruiting impressionable young Nigerians, including students to take up “arms” against the EFCC.
This insidious campaign is being promoted as resistance to the operational activities of the Commission especially in respect of the enforcement of the laws dealing with cybercrimes.
The Commission, while not averse to protests by citizens, is alarmed by emerging evidence that suggest a grand design by corrupt elements under investigation or prosecution by the Commission to exploit the so-called protest to orchestrate a national uprising that may threaten the peace and security of our dear nation.
As a responsible law enforcement organisation, the Commission will not tolerate any breakdown of law and order anywhere in the country especially around its office locations across Nigeria.
EFCC, working in concert with sister security agencies, is therefore taking necessary measures to deal with possible threats to the peace and security of Nigeria.
The Commission, however, appeals to parents, guardians and heads of tertiary institutions to take responsibility in ensuring that their wards are not recruited to be used as cannon fodder in a proxy war against the Commission by vested corrupt interests.
The war being waged by the Commission against corruption and cybercrime is to protect the future of the youth of this country. That future is imperiled if Nigeria degenerates further in global reckoning as a den of fraudsters.
The warning of the EFCC against the move by those allegedly guilty of frustrating the commissions’s fight against corruption is bound to receive cheer among those sympathetic to the commission and disbelief among critics.
HOBNOB NEWS
