is being repelled on two fronts from beneficiaries of corruption
in the previous administration, and “enemies within” the
government, a senior lawyer and activist, Femi Falana, has
said.
In his lecture at the investiture of Dele Ologbede as the
President of Rotary Club, Ikoyi, in Lagos on Sunday, Mr. Falana
said after Nigerians had backed the government to reject claims
of lopsided prosecution of anti-corruption campaign by those
“from outside”, it was time for Mr. Buhari to fight the enemies
within.
As enemies within, he made references to Minister of Interior
and former Army Chief, Abdulraman Dambazzau; Chief of
Army Staff, Tukur Buratai; Comptroller-General of Prisons,
Jafaru Ahmed; and the National Assembly.
“Since the Buhari administration commenced the war against
corruption last year it has enjoyed the support of the Nigerian
people,” Mr. Falana said in his speech which he sent to
PREMIUM TIMES. “However, corruption is fighting back on two
fronts. From outside the battlefront, the beneficiaries of
corruption have accused the government of selectively targeting
its political opponents in the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
The allegation has been dismissed by Nigerians as all the
suspects arrested by the EFCC have not denied their
involvement in the mega looting of the treasury. Apart from the
fact that majority of those who have been arrested are military
officers and government contractors a number of the suspects
who are members of the PDP have actually refunded part of the
loot.”
He continued, “From the home front, it is evidently clear that
some highly placed public officers who have been linked with
corruption are trying desperately to discredit and sabotage the
war. Disturbed by the clamour for the removal and prosecution
of such individuals the government has urged Nigerians to stop
making baseless allegations against serving public officers. In
spite of the clarification by the government the online media
have continued to substantiate the allegations of corruption
against the Chief of Army Staff and the Minister of Interior.
“Instead of attacking the imaginary enemies of the government,
the anti-corruption war calls for an urgent review of strategies.
For instance, it was recently reported in the media that 3 ex-
chiefs of army staff had been indicted by the arms procurement
panel. But when the report was eventually released the name of
one of the 3 security chiefs who is a serving minister was
missing. Not unexpectedly, allegations of cover up were raised
in the media. Embarrassed by the development the government
reacted by denying any cover up and explained that the panel
had not investigated the arms procurement from 2007-2010
when the minister served as the chief of army staff.
investigated the arms procurement from 2007-2010 when the
minister served as the chief of army staff.
A fact-check by PREMIUM TIMES, showed that contrary to
government claims, the arms procurement (2007-2015) probe
panel investigated Mr. Dambazzau’s tenure as Army chief.
However, when the report was released, neither Mr.
Dambazzau or Mr. Buratai were indicted, amidst allegations
that the report was doctored. The federal government later said
the probe exercise did not cover Mr. Dambazzau’s tenure as
Chief of Army Staff.
“Before the release of the controversial report a group had
alleged that the Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai had
purchased some properties worth $1.5 million in Dubai, United
Arab Emirates,” Mr. Falana said.
“In defending the allegation the Nigerian Army claimed that the
general bought the properties from his legitimate earnings. In
confirming that the properties were declared the Code of
Conduct Bureau claimed that the army chief had declared them
in the name of his wife! Aside the statement the CCB should
proceed to investigate and confirm that the properties were
legitimately acquired from the income of the general. This
investigation should be speedily and transparently conducted to
assure the Nigerian people that there are no sacred cows in the
prosecution of the war against corruption.
“Another official whose conduct ought to be investigated by the
government is the comptroller-general of prisons, Mr. Jafaru.
According to media reports which have not been denied the
prison boss is alleged to have reduced his age by two years.
Since two judges were recently dismissed for reducing their
ages and ordered to refund the money they had illegally
collected the comptroller- general of prisons ought to be
removed from office without any further delay. Similarly,
having identified the top civil servants in the Presidency who
padded the 2016 national budget the federal government should
hand them over to the EFCC for prosecution.”
In his speech, Mr. Falana expressed worry that the All
Progressives Congress-led National Assembly is also allegedly
frustrating the anti-corruption war.
Apart from the hot scandal of budget padding to the tune of N40
billion involving top members of the House of Representatives
including the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, Mr. Falana said both
Senators and House members short-changed Nigeria by sitting
below number of days constitutionally stipulated but collecting
full “jumbo” pay.
“Whereas section 63 of the Constitution provides that the Senate
and the House of Representatives shall each sit for not less than
181 days in a year section 68 thereof states that any legislator
who fails to attend the proceedings of the house or senate for
less than one third of the required number of days shall
automatically lose his or her seat. For the first legislative year
which ended on 9/6/16 the 8th session of the national assembly
did not meet the constitutional requirement. Specifically, due to
incessant recesses the House of Representatives sat for only 104
days while the Senate sat for 96 days. This means that the
senate sat for barely 50 percent of the required sitting period.
Indeed, some of the senators who had to attend criminal courts
where they are standing trial for corrupt practices did not seat
for up to 70 days throughout the legislative year.
“The Senate was actually shut down on a number of occasions
to enable the senate president, Dr Bukola Saraki to attend the
proceedings of the Code of Conduct Tribunal where he is
standing trial for false declaration of assets. And in solidarity
with him, a number of senators abandoned their duties to
accompany him to the Tribunal. Since the labour policy of “no
work no pay” is applicable to all public officers the federal
legislators ought not to have been paid when they did not
perform any legislative duty. In other words, having failed to sit
for the mandatory period of 181 days the legislators were not
entitled to payment of full salaries and allowances for the whole
legislative year.
“Having been paid full emoluments when they failed to sit for
the required number of days the federal legislators ought to
refund some money to the treasury. In the circumstance, the
Accountant-General of the Federation should ensure that the
legislators are made to refund the money collected for the
number of days they failed to sit in the national assembly,” he
said.
He asked the Government not to compromise the anti-
corruption war. He also said that officials who cannot explain
sources of their wealth should be thrown out. He called for
prosecution of suspected corrupt officials.
No comments:
Post a Comment