The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), South-East Zone, has condoled with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on the loss of one of its operatives, Aminu Sahabi Salisu.
Salisu, an Assistant Superintendent of the EFCC, was allegedly killed in cold blood while on duty by a suspected internet fraudster, Joshua Chukwubueze Ikechukwu last week.
A statement by Head, Media & Publicity of the commission, Dele Oyewale, stated that the students expressed their grief and solidarity with the Commission on Friday, when a delegation, led by Charles Obinna Ijeomah paid a condolence visit to the EFCC’s Chairman, Mr. Ola Olukoyede at the Commission’s headquarters, in Abuja.
While pledging the collaboration, cooperation and support of Southeast students to the Commission, Ijeomah stated that “As the coordinator of the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS), Southeast, the onus falls on me and my colleagues here to ensure that we sanitize and give proper orientation to our students not to indulge in anything that has to do with internet crime and we have been succeeding.
“We are very sorry for the incident that happened lately in Awka. Maybe you may have seen our comments, our stand, we condemned it.
“An operative was shot in the process of carrying out his official duty. Whatever that is going on in Southeast is being controlled by students and I am their leader. I cannot watch and see things go wrong. That is why we condemned the killing of that operative.
“We are here to let the authority of EFCC understand that we commiserate with you and to tell you not to judge the Southeast with what happened. Such acts are not in our blood.
‘It is not in our nature. We are hardworking people. We don’t indulge in crime. Anybody that indulges in crime in the Southeast is not a true son of Igbo. We know how to make money but this idea of being in one room with a device to trick someone is not in our blood.
“We are sad for the loss of the operative. We say sorry to the Enugu Zonal Command and to the EFCC authority for what happened.
“We assure you that such a thing can never happen again. Our aim of coming here is to let EFCC know that Southeast students are with them and that we’re going to partner with you more to educate our students in the Southeast region to avoid any kind of internet crime.
“We are here to bring you the news that we are 100 percent open to any form of interaction, collaboration and cooperation between the students of South-east and the EFCC.
“We are promising you total collaboration. By the time I get to Enugu after this meeting, we will be visiting the Zonal Command and pay a courtesy visit there too to let them know that they are not alone, that we are with them. We are the people controlling the youth in the streets of the South-east.
“We are promising you that we are going to work with you. We want to let EFCC know that this also provides an opportunity for the Commission to come and give orientation to our students in the Southeast. We will welcome you with an open heart.”
The Commission Secretary, Mr. Muhammad Hammajoda, who received the delegation on behalf of the Chairman expressed appreciation to the students on the condolence visit.
He noted that “every one of us is a stakeholder in the fight against corruption directly or indirectly. We don’t have any other country apart from Nigeria.
“You spent your personal money and time to be with us for you to understand what we are doing and to also be part of us. We appreciate you and we will continue to appreciate you. We will support you in trying to disseminate anti-corruption information.”
While urging the students to take advantage of the federal government’s Student’s Loan Scheme, he promised that the Commission will identify with all the noble programmes of the students in the zone if invited.
“We will be there for you in all the programmes that you outlined. Please give us an invitation. We will be there. We will be there to be part of you.
“We are sinking day by day with corruption. So let’s educate ourselves that this cyber crime will not take you anywhere. All of us are victims.
“Nobody has protection against it. Anyone can be attacked. We have a very sound youth population with a very high IQ (intelligence quotient) and ingenuity to do many things.”
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