The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has denied that its acting chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, said coronavirus or COVID-19 which broke out in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and resulted in the death of 2,442 people worldwide is caused by corruption.
It would be recalled that Magu had, while addressing the guests including President Muhammadu Buhari at the Passing out Parade of its Detective Inspector Course-5 cadets at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) held in Kaduna on Tuesday, February 18 linked the cause of the dreaded COVID-19 disease to corruption.
In a viral video, the acting EFCC chief had declared: “Corruption is the biggest strategy to human kind. Your Excellency, corruption is worse than all the diseases now running about. And I strongly believe, Your Excellency that even the coronavirus is caused by corruption.”
But in a rebuttal, spokesman for the EFCC, Mr. Tony Orilade said in a statement on Sunday that Magu only stated that claimed that corruption is worse than cancer and coronavirus.
In the statement entitled ‘Covid 19: Understanding what Magu said’ Orilade quoted Magu go have said: “Regarding the evil of corruption and the need for Nigerians to join hands in tackling the menace, Magu said, ‘your Excellency, corruption is worse than cancer, Ebola-virus, Corona-virus and all other deadly diseases put together.
“Fighting corruption is thus a crusade against the evils of our society that are deeply-rooted and threatening to consume us.
“We are aware that the task is not easy and the path can be very thorny and lonely, but with determination and a high sense of mission, we are making progress towards rooting out this evil from our society. We all appreciate you as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for embarking on this mission.”
The EFCC spokesman expressed regret that the media had misconstrued what Magu said at the event.
