Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has criticized the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, for the way they use the Department of State Services (DSS) in the fight against corruption.
Saraki, while speaking on Thursday at the Presidential Villa during a National Dialogue on the Fight against Corruption, specifically condemned the DSS raid on the homes of some judges last October.
The Senate President who was represented by Chairman of the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption, Senator Chukwuka Utazi, argued that the administration’s style in the fight against graft was unsustainable.
He declared that “the end-result of any action of government is as important as the process. The platforms for fighting corruption should not, themselves, be corrupt or be seen to be corrupted.”
On the DSS raid, Saraki said: “The recent so-called sting operation by the Department of State Security on the residences of some very Senior Justices, some without warrants, others without any proof of incriminating body of evidence, leaves much to be desired.”
Saraki argued that the law gave the EFCC full power for the co-ordination and enforcement of all economic and financial crime laws.
“It is even more instructive that by Section 2 (1) (e) of the EFCC Act, the Department of State Security sits on the Board of the EFCC and could easily, in their meetings, point out the persons or bodies the EFCC needs to investigate and prosecute backed up by the evidence it had clandestinely gathered.
“That sting operation was a needless violation of our laws and an aberration that democratic society should consider anathema. The EFCC should have been provided the necessary intelligence to execute its mandate if the evidence disclosed a prima-facie case against the Justices”, he added.
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