The suspended chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, has said people are afraid of him even though he cannot hurt a fly.
President Bola Tinubu last Wednesday approved the suspension of Bawa as the chairman of EFCC and ordered a probe into his activities in the office.
The suspension was announced in a statement by Willie Bassey, director of information, office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
He said the suspension followed “weighty allegations of abuse of office levelled against him”, adding that Bawa should hand over to the director of operations in the commission.
The suspended EFCC boss was subsequently arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS).
However, Bawa in an interview he granted to media personality, Chude Jideonwo, before his suspension which was published on Monday, noted that no one needs to be scared of him or the agency when invited.
Bawa said, "I doubt much if people should be scared of me, see my face, can I hurt a fly? No, I can't do that.
"It's an issue of power and power belongs to the system and not me as a person. And I think we are exercising it well, in the sense that we understood all the weight and all the expectations around it.
“We are just doing our job and don’t want people to panic or fear, and feel free to come to the EFCC with all sense civility and belonging.
“It’s just about finding out the facts and what happened. Just come and explain, so why are you scared or afraid? To me, it’s a sign that you are guilty as suspected, not guilty as charged.”
"What crime has been committed, who committed the crime, and then we link the two together. Who are the party to the offence; the principal offender, those that conspired, those that aided, and it's our own to our discretion to charge and recover," the statement added.