By Godwin Oritse

A member of the House of Representatives, Mr Vitalis Okafor has said that unless the full weight of the law was brought to bear on the individuals  indebted to the five banks, whose Managing Directors and board were sacked by the Central Bank of Nigeria, there was the likelihood of a repeat of such practice.

The lawmaker called the  Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to ensure that all the five chief executive officers and board of directors, recently booted out by the CBN did not go unpunished.

Mr Okafor,  who represents Ihiala Federal Constituency in Anambra state, in a statement yesterday, also commended the CBN Governor, MallamLamido Sanusi for “the courageous act of taking the bull by the horn”, adding that this ought to have been done a long time ago, as  “every discerning investor could read the handwriting on the wall that all was not well with the nation’s banking system.”

He recalled the situation several months ago, when some of the affected banks embarked on unprofessional practice of de-marketing, “thereby raising false alarms about alleged unhealthy state of other banks, when in fact their own banks were recently already hemorrhaging and even comatose.”

He  dismissed claims in some quarters that  Sanusi’s action was in the pursuit of a  “northern hidden agenda to destroy strong southern banks”, arguing that to say so of the CBN Governor’s action was “wicked and unpatriotic”.