Kehinde Fajobi
Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State has expressed opposition to the call for the abolition of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), advocating instead for the agency to be strengthened to improve its efficiency.
Fintiri’s comments came in response to a suit filed by 16 state governors at the Supreme Court, challenging the legality of the EFCC’s establishment.
Speaking during an interview on Channels TV’s Hard Copy programme on Friday, the governor emphasised the importance of reforming the commission rather than dismantling it.
“For me, it is not the right time to abolish the EFCC, whether it was established rightly or wrongly. We need to make it work better. We need to remove the politics that sometimes leads to claims of witch-hunting,” Fintiri stated.
He also criticised the federal government’s practice of retaining seized funds from cases of state embezzlement, calling it unfair.
“I heard the Attorney General of Oyo State complaining after a court session that, even though funds are shared among the three tiers of government—federal, state, and local—the Federal Government often oversteps by questioning how states and local governments spend their money. Even when funds are appropriated, the Federal Government takes it into their treasury. I believe this practice should be discontinued,” he added.
Fintiri noted that he would review the legal suit with his Attorney General before deciding whether to join the case.