June 21, (THEWILL)- Former Governor of Lagos State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, is currently under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In a related development, a former Managing Director of Alpha Beta LLP, Dapo Apara, has filed a suit demanding a Lagos State High Court to stop Tinubu from “controlling the finances of Alpha Beta.”
The suit was filed on Wednesday by Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN) on behalf of Apara.
EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, made this known on Sunday, June 20, adding that an investigation does not end in a day.
He said: “You asked me a question earlier about arresting people before investigation and now you are saying why didn’t we arrest Tinubu? Why didn’t you just say ‘arrest him?’
“Investigation is ongoing. When you are investigating matters like this, they don’t end in a day. Thousands of investigations are going on, on a daily basis.
“You understand? You know you are from the media. After you will say we are doing media trial.”
Asked why nothing was allegedly done about a petition submitted against Tinubu by a former Managing Director of Alpha Beta when Ibrahim Magu was the head of the EFCC and if he would take it up now that he is the commission’s Chairman.
Bawa said: “Well, petitions are normally investigated based on their own merit. Every petition that EFCC receives, we have what is called petition vetting committees in all zonal offices. So, of course, the zonal head and the chairman have the discretion, based on what is their assessment of the petition.
“On these committees, we have lawyers, we have investigators that will sit down and review all petitions and advise. Some they reject, because they are civil in nature, you know, they communicate that to the petitioners or complainants and some they will advise for investigation and thorough look at the allegations contained and those will be assigned for the appropriate action.
“Any petition that comes, based on its own merit, it would be treated.”
Asked why the petition has taken two years with “no action on it,” Bawa said investigations can take up to 30 or 40 years to complete.
“So, it’s not an issue that you are feeling that an investigation has taken two years, has taken four years, five years… after all, the lawyers will say that time does not run out on criminal investigation. Somebody can be investigated on an action that he did 30 years ago, 40 years ago”, he added:
