The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is mourning the loss of its key operative, Abdullahi Muazu, who was killed yesterday in his home in Kaduna. Mr Muazu was, until his death, the head of the Forensic Unit of the anti-graft agency.
The EFCC says that there is not enough evidence to suspect any particular person, as Mr Muazu had been involved in several EFCC cases. An operative of the agency, who asked not to be named, told NEXT in Abuja that Mr Muazu was very involved in the ongoing trials of the bank chiefs who were sacked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last year.
“Muazu was involved in virtually all our cases because he was the head of the Forensic Unit, so it is difficult to say that we suspect any particular person,” the EFCC official said. “I know that he was very much involved in all the trials of the Bank Chiefs, you know with checking finger prints and all that.” The spokesman of the commission, Femi Babafemi, in a press statement made available to NEXT, condemned the killing; adding that the anti-graft agency is strengthening its resolve to go ahead with its duties.
“Information reaching the Commission today confirms that our head of forensic unit was killed in a cruel manner in the early hours of today by unknown assailants. Those behind this attack may have succeeded in killing a strategic hand and a key witness in some of our on-going cases, but their act has failed to dampen our spirit or deter us from continuing our investigation and prosecution of all forms of economic crimes and corruption in the country,” Mr Babafemi said..
Ominous killings
Mr Babafemi also said that the commission has launched an immediate investigation into the matter.
Mr Muazu’s death is coming just one day after the gruesome murder of an agent of the State Security Service (SSS), Garba Bello, who was killed alongside his children and wife in Kano.
Bamidele Aturu, a Lagos Attorney, described the murder of the SSS agent as “ominous”, while alluding that the death is related to the coming 2011 elections. Mr Aturu also expressed a lack of faith in the ability of law enforcement agencies in the country to apprehend the killers.
“One must confess that it is futile to call on the security agencies to fish out sponsors of gruesome and cold blooded murders such as the one that happened in Kano on Monday,” he said. “They seem eternally incapable of that. We can only hope that this latest killing might just be an exception in the sea of murder riddles in a country that spends billions of dollars on security at all levels of governance or mis-governance.”
