Tinubu’s nominee Fagbemi wants EFCC, ICPC ‘unbundled’
Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, who is one of the ministerial nominees whose names President Bola Tinubu forwarded to the Senate for screening, has suggested the merging of anti-corruption agencies.
The two major anti-corruption agencies are the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
While appearing before senators on Wednesday, Fagbemi said he might advise President Bola Tinubu to unbundle the two anti-corruption bodies. He explained that investigating and prosecuting a corrupt case are different things and that each of the agencies concentrate on doing either but not both simultaneously.
He said, “Truth be told, we fight corruption but at the same time, the way it is being fought in Nigeria leaves much to be desired.”
“If I have my way, I’ll advise the president to unbundle, first of all, bring ICPC and EFCC together, unbundle them.
“Investigation should not be handled by the same body that must be the supervisory authority within the same system.
“Prosecution is another body. It doesn’t augur well to ask the same authority to (carry out) investigation and prosecution. That is why we have problems.”
Fagbemi equally said that investigation usually takes a long time to conclude and requires “patience” to ensure it is successful.
He said: “We are not also patient enough. Investigation takes time, especially in serious corruption cases. Are we prepared to wait?
“My take is that, a situation such as the one that happened when Hushpuppy was arrested. They have been trailing him for years but he didn’t know, and nobody talked to him. But the day they said the time was up, he also knew that the time was up.
“Investigation should be thorough. It shouldn’t be that when a sitting governor leaves office then say EFCC is inviting you. That is not the way to prosecute criminal and corruption matters.
“We have to put in place very good laws to do this.”
The SAN asked the parliament to make laws that will be good for society without the lawmakers “anticipating” how it will affect me.
Fagbemi, who is a nominee from Kwara, was accompanied to the Senate by Kwara Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq, and several SANs, including Wole Olanipekun, Yusuf Ali and Adeniyi Akintola.
