Ibrahim Magu, the acting Chairman
of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Monday revealed those
he found difficult investigating on assumption of office.
Magu disclosed that he found it
difficult investigating some, “senior journalists and media owners” who were
allegedly involved in the sharing of the funds meant for the fight against
insurgency in the North East.
The acting Chairman of EFCC said
this at the 68th General Assembly of the Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria,
BON, in Abuja.
Magu noted that journalists
should be partners with security agencies in the fight against corruption.
According to Magu, media
practitioners who should help expose corruption have taken to the vice, in a
bid to satisfy some of their alleged paymasters.
He said, “Corruption has made
Nigeria a laughing stock among committee of nations. We have never been in
doubt that checking corruption is the part way to escape from poverty in the
country, this is the reason why successive administration made the fight
against corruption a priority.
“The success has been mixed,
while some of us are blaming past administrations for lacking the will to
tackle corruption, I believe that we also share in the blame. As citizens and
professionals, we have roles to play. The question is how effective have we
played our roles?
“As media practitioners, how
effective have we being in helping to fight corruption, the media occupy a
unique place in the fight against corruption and impunity in Nigeria. As the
fourth estate of realm, the media is the only profession that is
constitutionally mandated to hold the nation’s leaders to account, but how has
the media fared well in the discharge of this sacred mandate?
“The media has been in the
vanguard of the liberation of democracy from the shackles of military
dictatorship, but since the return to democracy in 1999, the experience as an
observer, has been mixed, we have seen flashes of courageous reporting that
have straightened our public accountability.
“Let the truth be told, there is
no way law enforcement agencies can know about all cases of graft in the
society. Journalists as investigators in their own right are supposed to help
in exposing corruption and other societal ills, wherever they exist.
“Unfortunately, this is one area
we have challenges, media practitioners that are supposed to help fight
corruption have been swapped into malpractice.
“One of the difficult tasks I
faced soon after I took over as acting Chairman of the EFCC was having to investigate
senior journalists and media owners that partook in the monies meant for
sharing of arms to fight insurgency in the North East.
“It was shocking that even those
arraigned in court still feel they have done nothing wrong, it is difficult to
understand the disposition of many media practitioners who are comfortable
helping the corrupt to undermine the fight against corruption by attacking
anti-corruption agencies.
“I’m not against critical review
of anti-corruption fight if such arguments are based on facts. Journalists are
supposed to be investigators like us by training but investigative reporting is
less fancied these days as media practitioners pursue bread and butter issues.
“Journalists and journalism have
been hijacked by those who have the means and sometimes they do stories to
satisfy the needs of their paymasters.”
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Of cours I agreed with you
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