Osinbajo Says Buhari Will Not Influence Anti-Corruption Agencies

•Inaugurates committee to handle high profile cases

By Tobi Soniyi in Abuja

The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has given an assurance that President Muhammadu Buhari will not tele-guide anti-corruption agencies.

He spoke at the Presidential Villa in Abuja while inaugurating the National Prosecution Coordination Committee, NPCC. The committee which is headed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami, is saddled with the responsibility of prosecuting high criminal cases in the country.

The Vice President said: “When you look at the way that the EFCC and other law enforcement agencies have acted in recent times you will notice that they are not under any kind of direction of influence of the President.

“They are given the independence to act; they are given the authority and backing to act in their own and to use their own discretion appropriately at all times. You don’t get any situation where the president says go get that person of back off that person.”

Osinbajo who stood in for Buhari at the inauguration said both the president and himself expected the agencies to use their powers with fairness, devoid of any prejudice.

He said the same responsibility had been given to the newly formed NPCC to bring justice to the people.

Addressing the 20-member committee  the Vice President said: “that is the sort of responsibility placed on your own shoulders as well, the responsibility to exercise prosecutorial power independently and without any direction except of course from the learned Attorney-General who is the constitutional and prosecutorial authority in the country.