AGF Denies Claim EFCC, Solicitor-General Pressured Opposition Politicians To Join APC
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has dismissed claims that the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Olanipekun Olukoyede and the Solicitor General of the Federation, Beatrice Jeddy-Agba, helped facilitate the defection of politicians to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The clarification was made in response to an interview by Mr Paul Ibe, the spokesperson for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, on Channels TV’s “Politics Today” on Thursday.
Ibe, during the interview, alleged that the APC were coercing opposition members to defect using allegations of corruption.
Speaking on the programme, Ibe alleged that the EFCC chairman and the Solicitor General met with some members of the opposition parties to pressure them to defect to the ruling party.
But in a statement on Friday, the AGF’s spokesperson, Kamarudeen Ogundele, said the allegations were false.
According to him, the government officials never met any former or incumbent governors of a South-South state 48 hours before their defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The statement read in parts “Mr Ibe had insinuated that the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the Solicitor General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, met a former and incumbent governor of a South-South state 48 hours to their defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC),
“Although he failed to mention their names, the discerning members of the public know those he could have been referring to.
“However, we wish to state categorically that the allegation is from the pit of hell and, at best, a figment of the imagination of Mr Ibe.
“We know as a fact that the EFCC chairman and the Solicitor General of the Federation never met any serving or former governor as alleged by him.
“We appeal to the members of the public to disregard the insinuation, as it was a feeble attempt to discredit the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration’s fight against corruption.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration will continue to uphold the rule of law and will not falter in the fight against corruption no matter whose ox is gored,” the statement read.
AGF Denies Claim EFCC, Solicitor-General Pressured Opposition Politicians To Join APC is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
