The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, on Wednesday met with the United Arab Emirate (UAE) Ambassador to Nigeria, Mahmud Muhammad Al- Mahmud, to deepen the anti-corruption war.
At a meeting in Mr Magu’s office in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, both men discussed further cooperation that would see stolen funds returned to Nigeria.
The meeting came barely two weeks after President Muhammadu Buhari signed a Mutual Legal Assistance agreement with the UAE on the repatriation of stolen funds and extradition of indicted officials.
At the meeting, the EFCC boss called for the strengthening of the existing relationship between Nigeria and the UAE, with a view to effectively tackling corruption within the African continent.
Mr Magu said: “The fight against graft requires the collaborative support of all and sundry, most especially the international community for it to be won”.
Ssafe Haven
According to the EFCC boss, the present administration in Nigeria was poised to recover the nation’s commonwealth looted and laundered in foreign countries by corrupt elements.
He said the Commission had intelligence that the UAE was considered a safe haven by corrupt politically exposed persons in Nigeria.
“I have come to seek your support and cooperation just as we had in the case of Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha, James Ibori, among others to get the mission accomplished,” Magu told the UAE envoy.
On his part, the UAE Ambassador, Al- Mahmud, pledged the support of his country to Nigeria’s anti-graft war.
“No country can be an island on its own without the support of others,” he stressed.
