A socio-political group, Greater Okposi Initiative in Ebonyi State, has bemoaned the alleged freezing of council Areas accounts in the state by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
They also accused the anti-graft organization of turning into a willing tool of political intimidation in the hands of highly placed political office holders from the state working in Abuja and the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The group in a statement signed by its President, Mr. Aja Nwani Aja made available to newsmen on Tuesday, alleged that Ebonyi state government and the state governor, Martin Elechi were being witch hunted for allowing supporters of the government and former aggrieved PDP members to defect to Labour Party , which may likely win the governorship and other positions in the state in the general polls.
The statement read: “We are sad to note, however, that the heavy hands of the law have been deployed to massage the egos of some political overlords both in Ebonyi and in Abuja, else we are at pains to see the justification in the recent attempts by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to become a tool of political blackmail against the Government and people of Ebonyi State.
“It is on record that the EFCC went outside its statutory mandate when it requested the Accountant General of the Federation to freeze the Joint Accounts of Local Governments of the State on the allegation that some funds from the account were misappropriated or misused by some functionaries of the government.
“We are at a great loss as to the source of such authority wielded by the Commission as neither their Establishment Act nor any other law for that matter gives it such muscles, and we challenge the Commission to locate their action within a legal framework or apologize to the government and people of Ebonyi State,” the group noted.
It said “we have followed with shock and apprehension recent developments in the state and wish to register her disappointment with relevant institutions of state “which have lent themselves to be used in service of sectional and narrow interests bent on fomenting trouble and foisting on our peace-loving people a crisis that was brewed in Abuja and fermented within the PDP establishment in Ebonyi State.”
The group therefore called on the EFCC and all other law enforcement agencies that have allegedly been recruited to unlawfully assault the Government and people of Ebonyi State to back off.
“Opaque and contrived cases of corruption is not a blank cheque for political witch-hunting, and the Commission must resist every temptation to influence the ballot through illegitimate and wanton means calculated to intimidate, harass and strong-arm any person, group or party in Ebonyi State.”
