March 04, (THEWILL) – The Arewa Consultative Youth Movement has urged Ola Olukoyede, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), to desist from persecuting Eric Odoh, a former aide to Godwin Emefiele, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The Forum, in a statement jointly signed by its President and Publicity Secretary, Kabiru Yusuf and Muhammad Abdullahi, called on the EFCC Head to immediately stop the persecution of Odoh’s family or resign if he was tired of the job.
Odoh’s family lawyer had on Sunday, raised the alarm of an invasion of the family home by operatives of the Commission.
The Arewa Youths condemned the “gestapo attack on the home of Odoh’s widowed mother” and the assault on a “security guard on duty for no reason.”
The group alleged that “persecuting the Odoh family would not fix the economic challenges of the country and would not lead to the recovery of any looted funds as the person in question was not involved in any looting if any happened at the bank”.
They further alleged that the “persecution of the Odohs was because their son worked for Mr. Emefiele as an aide and cannot be held responsible for imaginary non-existing allegations or actions of his boss”.
“Mr. Odoh has asked to be exempted from testifying against his boss or falsely bearing witness against a man for an offence he never committed, which irked the EFCC leadership and they have vowed to bring down Mr. Odoh.
“We called on Mr. Olukoyede to redirect his focus on recovering the looted funds by state Governors, Ministers and Heads of Departments instead of chasing shadow and seeking needless patronage from the President by chasing his perceived political enemies.
“Should the EFCC Chairman find it difficult to do what is right and beneficial at this time for the country, the next right and beneficial thing to do is to immediately resign so that some other person who is serious about fighting financial crimes in Nigeria will be appointed to take up the mantle,” the group said.
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