Meeting with Bawa: NBA Chairman’s statement ‘grossly irresponsible’, says EFCC

The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to a report captioned:  Even If you Go to Court… I have a Good Working relationship with Judges, attributed to the Benue Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Justin Gbagir and which was published in the online media on Monday August 9, 2021.
The Commission wishes to state 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.
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.
Wilson Uwujaren
Head, Media & Publicity