President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday night said he was aware of the investigation of two sacked officials by anti-corruption agencies, saying the investigation should continue.
Mr. Buhari’s
spokesperson, Garba Shehu, in a statement said “the position of the President
therefore is that investigation agencies which have already commenced the
investigation of the two officers removed from office will go on with their
work of investigation without any interference or hindrance.”
Mr. Shehu added
that the president “who is fully conversant with the provisions of the
constitution will not stop the investigation of anyone because he has no such
power under our laws. This is a decision of the Supreme Court.”
The spokesperson
was reacting to criticisms that trailed the sack of Babachir Lawal and Ayodele
Oke, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and former head of
the National Intelligence Agency respectively.
President Buhari
had ordered the sack of both men earlier on Monday following a review of a
panel report that investigated allegations against them. The panel was headed
by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Many Nigerians,
though commended the dismissal of both men, asked that Mr. Buhari order their
arrest and prosecution.
Mr. Shehu,
however, indicated that the two men were already being investigated by the
anti-corruption agencies.
“Based on his
wish and desire for a strict observance of the law, the President expects the
EFCC, ICPC and such agencies to proceed with ongoing investigations,” the
spokesperson said.
“When and where
they have reasonable grounds to charge former or serving officers to court
under our laws, they do not require the permission of the President to do so,”
he added.
THE INDICTMENT
The spokesperson
for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Wilson Uwujaren, could not be
reached for comments about the status of the investigations.
However, the
panel headed by Mr. Osinbajo found Mr. Lawal culpable in a
slew of allegations that included questionable diversion of funds meant for the
internally displaced persons in the North-east.
Consequently, the
investigative committee, which included Attorney-General Abubakar Malami and
National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, recommended termination of Mr.
Lawal’s appointment, the presidency said in a statement.
Mr. Oke was the
head of NIA when the EFCC found N13billion belonging to the foreign intelligence office in an
apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos, on April 12.
As with Mr.
Lawal, Mr. Osinbajo’s panel recommended Mr. Oke’s dismissal after looking
into the circumstances surrounding the cash haul.
The panel submitted its report onAugust 23, but Mr. Buhari did not act on it until Monday. Another
presidential aide, Femi Adesina, told Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’
Monday evening that the president was being painstaking with the content of the
report.
Before their
appointments were ultimately terminated, Messrs. Lawal and Oke had been placed on suspensionsince April 19. They appeared before the panel on several occasions
during its 14-day, closed-door sitting.
DEMAND FOR PROSECUTION
While welcoming
their sack on Monday evening, a civic rights group, Socio-Economic Rights and
Accountability Project, SERAP, admonished Mr. Buhari to reassert his
anti-corruption posture by calling for a thorough prosecution.
“This is a
positive development in the fight against grand corruption, although this
decision is coming rather late,” SERAP said in a statement signed by its deputy
director, Timothy Adewale. “Buhari now has to go a step further by making sure
that both Lawal and Oke are promptly brought to justice in fair trials.”
“What the
government needs at this time is a revolutionary approach to the fight against
corruption if Buhari is to show his commitment to ‘kill’ corruption before
corruption ‘kills’ Nigeria.
“Without
effective prosecution of high-ranking public officials charged with corruption,
this government’s fight against corruption may sadly turn out to be all motion
and no movement, and this will eventually undermine the legitimacy of the
anti-corruption efforts,” Mr. Adewale said.
The group also
reminded Mr. Buhari to pursue criminal charges against the fugitive former head
of presidential task force on pension reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina.
Mr. Maina was revealed byPREMIUM TIMES penultimate Friday as having sneaked back into
the public service four years after he was sacked for alleged pension fraud.
Mr. Buhari ordered Mr.Maina’s dismissal with immediate effect and called for an
investigation into how he was recalled.
“Buhari also has
to move swiftly to publish a report of the investigation into the secret
reinstatement of the fugitive former civil servant, Abdulrasheed Maina, and
without delay identify and bring to justice anyone suspected to be involved,”
SERAP said.
PAST ARREST CALLS
While President
Buhari did not authorise the immediate arrest of Mr. Lawal and Oke, he has
ordered arrests of persons indicted of corruption in the past.
When Mr. Buhari
received the reports of the presidential arms probe panel in 2015, he ordered
immediate arrest or former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and other
officials of the last administration who were indicted.
Mr. Buhari raised
the Committee on Audit of Defence Equipment Procurement in the Nigerian Armed
Forces on August 24, 2015, in furtherance of his “determination to stamp out
corruption and irregularities in Nigeria’s public service.”
The panel
submitted its interim report on November 17, 2015, finding Mr. Dasuki culpable
in the award of “fictitious and phantom contracts to the tune of
N2,219,188,609.50; 1,671,742,613.58 dollars and 9,905,477.00 Euros,” amongst
others.
Soon after
receiving the report, Mr. Buhari “directed the relevant organisations to arrest
and bring to book, all individuals who have been found complicit in these
illegal and fraudulent acts,” according to a State House statement on November
17, 2015.
Source: PremiumTimes
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