- Says EFCC lacks powers to prosecute naira abuse
One-time Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, has said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) lacks powers to prosecute naira abuse.
Odinkalu had earlier condemned the commission’s arrest and six months jail of crossdresser Okuneye Idris Olanrewaju popularly known as Bobrisky on the abuse of naira.
The rights advocate and professor of law maintains that spraying of the naira does not fall within the anti-graft agency’s prosecutorial purview.
Odinkalu via his X handle said: “The law that establishes the EFCC defines ‘economic and financial crimes’ to mean ‘non-violent criminal and illicit activity committed with the objectives of earning wealth illegally either individually or in a group or organised manner thereby violating existing legislation governing the economic activities of government and its administration.’”
“Having calculated that the cost of running a Laundromat for the Naira is too much for it, the @officialEFCC has decided to become an environmental organization committed to keeping the Maria clean. Describing them as idle is an abuse to idleness. The money launderers roam free,” he said.
This is coming after popular socialite and celebrity barman Pascal Chibuike Okechukwu, also known as Cubana Chief Priest was arraigned on Wednesday at the Federal High Court in Lagos for the same offence.
The Cubana Chief Priest is set to challenge the charge filed against him by the EFCC, having pleaded not guilty. He was granted bail in the sum of N10million.
