The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has on Monday 15th July 2018 stated his position on the alleged N100million Alpha Beta scam, where it slammed the editorial team of Punch Newspaper for not reporting the full story on the petition as explained by the Anti-graft agency.
EFCC in a statement released a few hours ago acknowledged that they received a petition against Alpha Beta as they cited a Punch Newspaper publication which alleged that a company belonging to the Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Osinbajo was linked to the Alpha Beta scam, but nothing has been done on the case for over one year now. In their defence, the commission explained how the Newspaper allegedly tried to carry out a smear campaign against it by not reporting their own side of the story, saying:
“To underscore the desperation of the editorial team that anchored the report, Mr Tobi Aworinde contacted the Commission’s acting Spokesperson at exactly 9:44 pm on Friday, July 12, 2019, on the subject matter.
Mr Aworinde called the Spokesperson to know the position of the Commission on the petition. The Spokesperson sent a response via a WhatsApp platform. Unfortunately, this response was not captured in the Punch report.
When contacted why the response of the Spokesperson was not reflected in the report, Mr Aworinde replied and said: “I forwarded the message as soon as I got it. It must have been the race to press. We were behind on our production deadline when I called for the reaction. My apologies sir”.
There is no doubt that the ‘race to press’ and ‘we were behind our production deadline when I called for reaction’, as explained by Aworinde, is suggestive that there were an agenda and a motive.
It is erroneous for the newspaper to claim that the Commission did not do anything in respect to the petition for one year.
It is also unfortunate and unprofessional for a paper like The Punch Newspapers to champion such misinformation and also rush to the press on a sensitive matter like this.” it said.
The Commission while also confirming the petition over the alleged N100million Alpha Beta scam, said investigation on the issue is still ongoing, but urged the petitioner to forward more facts to them as he did not substantiate the allegation contained in his petition. But most importantly, they do not operate on mere hearsay.
“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has noted a story in the Punch Newspaper of Saturday, July 13, 2019, titled: Osinbajo’s firm linked to company fingered in alleged N100bn Alpha Beta scam.
While not denying the fact that such petition was received on Alpha Beta by the Commission last year, a preliminary investigation has shown that the petitioner did not substantiate the allegation contained in his petition.
For the records, the Alpha Beta investigation is ongoing and we have nothing to hide over the matter.
If the petitioner has any further proof with regards to the petition, our doors are wide open.
As a tradition, we do not deal on hearsay, we act on facts and raw data.
The Commission will not allow anybody to drag its name and reputation into the mud for ill-motive reasons.”