A legal practitioner, Mr George Etomi, has asked the Federal Government to train the anti-graft agencies to be strategic and coordinated, so as to ensure success of the whistle-blower policy in Nigeria.
Mr Etomi told Channels Television that the recent recoveries made by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have proven that a lot of cash has been moving around in the country.
He observed that most politicians fund their activities by means of cash, stressing the need to strengthen the whistle-blower policy.
Also read: Presidency Seeks To Strengthen Whistle-blower Policy
“One thing that is not in doubt is that so much cash has been moving around, especially in a political atmosphere in Nigeria. The means by which politicians fund their activities is largely done in cash.
“So it is quite clear that there is plenty of cash sitting in various forms in different places that can be traced to the doorsteps of politicians. But if it’s going to be a whistle-blowing policy that should work, then nobody should be protected,” the lawyer said.
He further expressed optimism that with proper training and coordination, the anti-graft agencies would eliminate the speculations that have trailed the recovery of cash in recent times.
Also Read: EFCC Discovers Huge Sums Of Money In Ikoyi Apartment
Mr Etomi pointed out that the anti-corruption agencies lacked adequate fact-finding strategies that would establish evidences strong enough to convince a judge to rule in their favour.
“Critically, we also need to train the anti-graft agencies because in some of these cases, many of these things could end up in prosecutions, and the scorecard we’ve had from EFCC about so many failed prosecutions is suggestive of the fact that the anti-graft agencies are struggling with investigative tactics that will enable them produce the sort of evidence of convictable quality.
“Apart from all the hype we get, apart from all the leaks to the social media, when it comes to the main issues, you’ve got to convince a judge, a third party who was not there to convict somebody.
“When you are talking about the liberty of somebody, it’s going to be a bit more than just rumours, guess or deductions; you are going to produce hard evidence,” he said.
