Former Minister for Finance and Coordinator of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala has dismissed reports that she is under investigation by
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Iweala in a
Press Statement signed by her media Aide, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu said
headlines in some sections of the media suggesting she is under
investigation by the anti-graft agency are misleading. The former
Minister said from eye witness accounts at the Budget 2016
presentation
of the EFCC, the Chairman of the anti-graft agency never said her
activities as Minister under former President Goodluck Jonathan’s
administration
are under scrutiny. But Hon. Razak Atunwa, a member of the House of
Representatives Committee who inquired about the probe into the
petroleum sector, said: “I said EFCC has recovered a lot of money for
Nigeria and he (Magu) mentioned that, in that regard, more sectors of
the economy is likely to come under Investigative activity.
“I
said it includes petroleum sector? He said yes. And I said would it
include investigating the following people: Diezani Allison-Madueke,
Okonjo-Iweala and Kola Aluko, and he said yes. Those people are already under their investigative radar.”
However, Iweala’s press statement reads:
ALLEGED EFCC INVESTIGATION OF OKONJO-IWEALA: MEDIA HEADLINES ARE MISLEADING AND UNTRUE
We
want to clarify that some of the media reports alleging that the EFCC
is investigating former Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, are
misleading
and untrue. This is clear from eye witness accounts of the Budget 2016
presentation by the EFCC at the House of Representatives and gaps in the
reported stories. The headlines are a misrepresentation of what the
EFCC Chairman actually said during the event.
While the headlines
claimed that the EFCC Chairman, in response to a question by an APC,
member Hon Razak Atunwa, stated that Dr Okonjo-Iweala is under
investigation, the actual words quoted in the same reports told a very
different story.
His words:
“Very soon we will go into the
petroleum industry. Such investigation requires that we have to build
capacity, we have to bring in experts to
enable us tackle what we are
doing properly and the investigation must be conducted properly. We
have internal lawyers and external lawyers. We have to pay insurance…”
The
words said to have been spoken by the EFCC Chairman cannot support the
lurid headlines that Dr Okonjo-Iweala is under investigation by the
EFCC. The Nigerian media plays an important role in our democracy and we
urge them to be fair, balanced and factual in their reports.
Paul C Nwabuikwu
Media Adviser to Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
No comments:
Post a Comment