The EFCC recently gave a clean bill of health to Umar in a bid to rest the alleged N10 million bribery scan-dal the CCT boss was enmeshed in. The rights group has, therefore, challenged the hierarchy of the ant-graft agency to a public and media covered debate in Abuja so that all parties could present to Nigerians the merits or demerits of “this hur-riedly packaged soft-landing EFCC extended to Umar who is caught in the midst of the politically charged persecution of Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki.” HURIWA has also pilloried the EFCC for withdrawing the anti-graft ambassadorial award to the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, under pressure from its principals. In a statement jointly signed by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, over the weekend, HURIWA said, “This EFCC that only pursues the Directors of PDP’s Presidential Campaign Organisation but looks the other way regarding how the APC deployed their own multi-billion Naira campaign funds, is surely politically tainted and must be reformed to give it the needed independence and freedom from executive interference.” According to HURIWA, “The so-called clearance extended to Mr Danladi Umar which was released to the media to coincide with the processes filed before the Code of Conduct Tribunal by a party challenging his ethical qualifications to continue to preside over the Code of Conduct Tribunal are suspicious, to put it mildly.” Ibrahim Alhassan, Spokesman of the tribunal had said that the EFCC sent a letter to the tribunal on last Wednesday clearing the CCT Chairman of the allegation.]]>