Stop ‘Persecuting’ Odoh’s Family, Arewa Youths Tell EFCC Chairman

Youths under the aegis of Arewa Consultative Youth Movement (ACYM) have called on the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede, to immediately stop the alleged persecution of the family of Mr. Eric Odoh, a former aide to the immediate-past governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, or resign if he was tired of the job.

This group’s position was contained in a press statement issued by the President and Publicity Secretary of ACYM, Mallam Kabiru Yusuf and Mallam Muhammad Abdullahi, respectively, in Kaduna, following the uproar over the alleged Gestapo manner in which the home of Odoh’s widowed mother was stormed, including assaulting the security guard on duty by EFCC operatives.

The group alleged that persecuting the Odoh family would not fix the economic challenges of the country and would not lead to the recovery of any looted fund as the person in question was not involved in any looting if at all any happened at the bank.

The group further alleged that the persecution of the Odohs was because their son worked for the former governor of CBN Emefiele as an aide and cannot be held responsible for what it called imaginary or non-existing allegations or actions of his boss.

“Mr. Odoh has asked to be exempted from testifying against his boss or falsely bearing witness against a man for an offence he never committed which irked the EFCC leadership and they have vowed to bring down Mr. Odoh,” the group said.

The group, therefore, called on Mr. Olukoyede to either redirect his focus on recovering the looted funds by state governors, Ministers and Heads of Departments instead of chasing shadow and seeking needless patronage from the President by chasing his perceived political enemies.

The statement concludes that “should the EFCC Chairman find it difficult to do what is right and beneficial at this time for the country, the next right and beneficial thing to do is to immediately resign so that some other person who is serious to fight financial crimes in Nigeria will be appointed to take up the mantle.”