President Muhammadu Buhari has been challenged to personally oversee an investigation into allegations of undue interferences and active undermining
of the mandate of the presidential committee on recovery of public property
made against the vice president Professor Yemi Osinbanjo and erstwhile justice
minister Abubakar Malami (SAN) by the suspended head of the panel- Mr. Okoi
Obono-Obla.
Making the demand in a statement to the media is the leading
pro-democracy and civil Rights advocacy body- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION
OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) in a jointly endorsed presentation by the national
coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National media affairs Director
Miss Zainab Yusuf even as the Rights group said sweeping the extensively
damaging allegations under the carpet could mean the end of the anti-graft
battles by the current administration. HURIWA said the accusations made by
Obono Obla constituted serious issues that must be probed forensically if the
current administration is to convince the international community that it does
not condone impunity and corruption by those in the corridors of powers nearest
to the President and his deputy Professor Yemi Osinbanjo.
“The fundamental ethos of justice, equity, equality before the law and
respect for the principles of Rule of law is that nobody is above the laws of
the land. In effect this means that no matter the political status of any
citizen, everyone is subjected to the rule of law and no class of people must
be graded as ‘untouchables’, and/or sacred cows in the fight against
corruption”. HURIWA said the accusations against the principal officers working
under Mr. President who makes the heavy weather of the claim that his
administration is waging a war against corruption and graft is also an abuse of
office and power which section 15(5) of the Nigerian Constitution frowns
against.
HURIWA which was the group that petitioned the National Assembly
against the now suspended chairman of the presidential panel on recovery of
public property over alleged certificate forgery, however, stated that it would
be absolutely unconstitutional for president Muhammadu Buhari to gloss over or
overlook the serious allegations of unjust interference and attempts to cripple
the functioning of the presidential panel made against key government officials
including vice president Osinbanjo who is now been accused of using his nominee
the chairman of the independent corrupt practices and related offences
commission (ICPC) to reportedly wage his wars against the now suspended head of
the presidential panel Mr. Obono Obla. The Rights group said the media
presentation made by Obono Obla must not be dismissed as claims of a drowning
man since he seems to have provided empirical body of evidence to support his
claims of internal sabotage made against the Vice President and the erstwhile
Federal Attorney General and minister of justice Alhaji Abubakar Malami.
HURIWA stated thus: " Recall that in a response to the
circumstances surrounding his current suspension from office as reported and
confirmed by the Secretary to the government of the Federation Mr. Boss
Mustapher, Mr. Obono-Obla said that he was not disturbed by his purported sack,
adding that what was happening was corruption fighting back because his panel
was investigating highly placed individuals connected to those in power."
HURIWA stated that the now suspended Presidential Panel Chairman, who
is a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, also claimed that an
official of the Nigeria Football Federation that was facing corruption charges
had recently boasted that he (Obono-Obla) will soon be removed after paying a
"visit to the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN).
"He also stated that there is a letter from the Deputy Chief of
Staff, Office of the Vice President to him in January this year that he should
suspend all investigation cases because government wanted to carry out a review
of the panel.
HURIWA recalled that the suspended Chairman had stated as follows:
“They say I am uncontrollable, I don’t know how they want to control an
anti-corruption fighter. If you are not the kind of person I am, you can’t
fight corruption because corruption is systematic, it is endemic in Nigeria.
So, you need a rugged person. The
President said all anti-corruption agencies should be given a free hand,
absolutely to work, there should not be any interference. The President has
never sacked me but they have sacked me many times. Sometimes,
they write letters to me that I should suspend my work. In January I got a
letter from the
Deputy Chief of Staff, office of the Vice
President that I should suspend all investigations that government wants to
carry out a review and I said if the President was doing that, it should come
from the Chief of Staff to the President. When I
arrested one oil mogul, we investigated the company and discovered that the
company had not paid $3 million. They have oil bloc. When I arrested him to get
the money from him, I had a lot of phone calls from the same people and they
have not been happy with me that was in July, that I touched somebody who is
close to them".
The Rights group said the Chairman is credited with making the claims
thus: “These are all the forces and the ICPC has joined them. Why should they
go and seal a government office on a non-working day? It is absurd. If they
want to sack me, they should sack me and not to close down government office
and ordered everybody inside not to come out and that nobody should go in. This is a
government office; we have sensitive security documents there. If they want to
remove me, they should tell me and I will hand over all the government
documents in my custody, sensitive documents and case files to whoever is
taking over from me. When I am
investigating corrupt people, I cannot be selective, that is my offence because
I have been very uncompromising. I don’t know why they want to control me. They
gave me the job in the first place because I have the gut, I have the heart and
the passion to do it, so they should allow me. I have gone
into a lot of areas other anti-corruption agencies have not gone into."
HURIWA however reminded President Muhammadu Buhari that his
administration need not throw the baby with the bathwater and must not
compromise the anti-graft war.
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