The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, on Monday cleared the former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Professor Charles Soludo of any wrong doing in the alleged Polymer bribery scandal.
The chairman, who spoke at a press conference yesterday in Abuja also used the event to assert that the commission had not been given any presidential directive to move against key figures of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
According to Lamorde, after investigating Soludo, the commission did not find him incriminated in any way and had to clear him of any wrongdoing.
“We invited Charles Soludo in respect of the printing of currency notes. From the investigation conducted, we did not find anything Soludo was involved in. Our partners from UK wanted certain information. So, Soludo has been exonerated,” Lamorde stated.
The open declaration was made at a press conference to formally launch a new handbook tagged “Alert on Scam” by the commission in Abuja.
On the alleged presidential directive to arrest APC leaders, Lamorde, warned politicians to desist from dragging the commission into politics, saying that it did not need any directive to investigate and punish corrupt persons in the country.
He told journalists that the commission had been neutral since the campaigns began, adding that the EFCC would not be dragged into politics barely few days to the polls.
He said, “They said there was an order to arrest the leadership of the party.
”We do not want to get involved in any political discussion. We have tried to remain neutral since the campaigns started. Let us do the last lap peacefully.”
“Corruption has become an issue in this political campaign. We cannot stop people from talking. The irony of it is that, some of them talking about corruption are standing trial. They are busy playing to the gallery. It is unfortunate. They do not see themselves first.
“Some of them have no business taking about corruption. They are corruption personified. We want to remind them that they still have their day in court.
“I like to sound a note of warning here that the Commission will no longer tolerate people dropping its name to further their political ends.
“The EFCC is not a political body and will not allow itself to be dragged into political fray by desperate politicians”, Lamorde warned.
