The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Thursday disagreed with the Department of State Services, DSS, that corruption was a threat to national security.
DSS had stated this as the main reason it raided thehomes of some judges across the country last month.
However, the anti-graft agency believes that the raid was a manifestation of the rivalry among security agencies, particularly between the DSS and the current leadership of the EFCC.
The two agencies had appeared before an ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives in Abuja to testify in respect of the invasion of the homes of some judges and subsequent arrest by the DSS over alleged corrupt acts.
The committee, which is chaired by a former House Deputy Minority Whip, Mr. Garba Dhatti, is investigating all cases of invasion of property and arrest of persons by the DSS “outside its purview” from May 2015 to date.
The EFCC categorically told the committee that the alleged offences of the judges were financial crimes and did not constitute a threat to national security.
The commission’s acting Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, had sent an Assistant Director (Prosecution), Mr. Ojogbane Jonson, to represent him at the sitting of the committee.
He insisted that the EFCC Act, clearly covers the alleged offences of the judges, adding that it was a duty the DSS should have left for it to execute.
Magu noted, “It is a crime (corruption) motivated by greed, but it is within the purview of the EFCC.
“Bribery and corruption are for personal gain, and what it has affected in my view is not security, but development.
“It is not about the internal security, which the DSS runs, what it does is to rob us of our commonwealth.
“I am not aware of any issue they (DSS) have been involved in that has elicited as much criticism as this one. It is not much because people are against them fighting corruption but the methodology.”
Magu explained further, “Most of these people (fraudsters) are not violent on their own, and when we put them before a compromised judge, and they are set free, they go back to do the same things, like duping people. That has nothing to do with internal security.”
In his testimony, the Chairman of the ICPC, Mr. Ekpo Nta, supported the DSS, saying that the National Security Agencies Act conferred powers on the agency to raid any property in the country.
Nta also said the ICPC had similar powers, just like the Nigeria Police to gain entry into any facility in the course of investigation.
He said, “The DSS, like the ICPC, have been conferred with the powers of the police.
“Section 6 of the ICPC Act, it is there. Just like the police, as they have it in the Police Act, these powers are there.”
