A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Femi Falana has asked the National Assembly to take advantage of the ongoing constitutional review to end the diversionary debate about the validity of the EFCC and the ICPC Acts.
Falana says this can be done by entrenching both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Commission in the Constitution.
The senior advocate made these suggestions in two separate letters he addressed today to the leadership of the National Assembly- the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
He says, “if both commissions are constitutionalised, they will be protected and strengthened to fight the menace of corruption and money laundering.”
Falana was reacting to the comments of a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) who contended that the power under which the EFCC was established was beyond the powers of the National Assembly.
Relying on decided cases, Falana faulted Agbakoba’s submissions that the Supreme Court had knocked the EFCC on many occasions. Falana stated that “on the contrary, the Supreme Court has consistently supported the efforts of the ICPC and EFCC in fighting the misma of monumental corruption in the country”.
