The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has debunked insinuations that Rivers State government is targeted in the anti-graft war.

While asserting that it was only fighting for accountability, it affirmed that it would not relent on the fight until victory is achieved.

The zonal head of EFCC, Port Harcourt Office, Mr. Nnaghe Itam, stated this yesterday in Port Harcourt during a walk against corruption with Social Action and other civil society organisations.

Itam said: “The war is ongoing to force corruption out of Nigeria. It is not a fight against the Rivers State government; it is a fight for good governance and transparency. It is a fight for accountability. It is a fight for development and to ensure that real dividends of democracy are delivered to the people.”

Rivers government, through the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Emma Okah, recently told EFCC to leave the state alone and focus on its duties.

The call was not unconnected with a statement released by the EFCC that it was investigating Rivers government in connection with withdrawals totalling N170 billion from the state’s account.

However, the acting chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, has called on Nigerians not pay lip service to the anti-graft war, but be practical in their attitude towards eradicating the menace from all segments of the polity.

Magu spoke through the zonal head of the commission in the South East, Usman Imam, yesterday during the anti-corruption walk organised by EFCC across major streets of Enugu in commemoration of the International Day Against Corruption.

“Your ‘No’ must not only be heard but much more be seen and felt through a conscious determination to resist attempts by individuals, organisations and systems to do that which negates integrity, transparency, honesty and equality,” he said.

According to him, those who have been identified as corrupt among the people must neither be celebrated nor given chieftaincy titles, and must consciously be alienated as deterrent to others.

Magu urged Nigerians, especially south easterners, to embrace the whistle-blower policy of the federal government as an avenue to recover stolen funds for government and earn legitimate income.