Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Abdulrasheed BAWA has refuted a statement credited to him by Benue State Chairman of Nigerian Bar Association Justin Gbagir.
EFCC said in a statement signed by Head, Media & Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren that its attention has been drawn to a report captioned: “Even If you Go to Court … I have Good Working relationship with judges,” attributed to Justin Gbagir in an online report purporting it to have been from Bawa .
The Commission said that “the comment ascribed to the Executive Chairman, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, is patently false and should be discountenanced.”
“It is regrettable that a compassionate gesture by the Executive Chairman in meeting with Gbagir over an alleged incident involving him and some officers of the Makurdi Zonal Command of the Commission has degenerated into a weapon of blackmail,” it stated.
” As a responsible leader, one with a disdain for injustice of any kind, Mr. Bawa met Gbagir to give him fair hearing and explore avenues to address his complaints, where they were meritorious.
“At no time during the encounter was there reference to judges and their soft spot or the lack of it, for the EFCC boss and the Commission.
“As a law enforcement officer with over 16 years cognate experience before assuming the office of the Executive Chairman, Mr. Bawa is conversant with the impartiality and independence of the judiciary and could not have made the flippant statement ascribed to him.
“To have invented such a remark and ascribed it to the EFCC chair is not only disingenuous but grossly irresponsible,” EFCC said.