| Revisit Okigbo Report,
Gani charges EFCC
•Falana tackles Obasanjo
By MURPHY GANAGANA and UBONG UKPONG, Abuja
Thursday,
August 24, 2006
 |
•Chief
Gani Fawehinmi
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
| |
Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) has urged the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC to revisit the Okigbo
Report on the 1991 Gulf War oil windfall to enable Nigerians
know what happened to the $12 billion revenue earned by the
country during the period.
He made the call Wednesday in Abuja, at the ongoing National
Seminar on Economic Crimes which entered its second day. According
to him, EFCC owes Nigerians a duty to prevent the emergence
of a corrupt leadership in 2007, even as he pleaded for internal
vigilance and external support to ensure that those who take
power next year do not scrap the agency.
Chief Fawehinmi commended the EFCC's effort on the war on
corruption, noting that its achievements in the past three
years as evidenced by recorded arrests, prosecutions and convictions
were unprecedented. The Senior Advocate of Nigeria said that
he had vowed never to accept a brief against the commission.
Mr Falana, Chairman, West African Bar Association who presented
a paper on 'Executive Immunity and the Fight Against Corruption',
echoed the vow. "We have lost millions in our association
with Ribadu. We took separate decisions never to take up matters
against EFCC", Falana said.
Falana further revealed that it was on account of the great
respect they have for EFCC Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, that Professor
Wole Soyinka flew in from California, United States, while
Fawehinmi had to cut short his trip abroad for medical check
up to be part of the seminar. He vowed that no amount of blackmail
will stop progressive elements from assisting EFCC.
In his presentation, Falana observed that the immunity clause
of the 1999 Constitution has been grossly abused and called
on President Olusegun Obasanjo to move for the review of section
308 of the Constitution. According to him, the review is necessary
as it was inequitable for the political executive to be shielded
from civil and criminal prosecution while at the same time
enjoying the power to sue others.
Notwithstanding the well-known limitations of section 308,
Falana informed participants that Section 308(2) of the Constitution
allows state governors, for instance, to be subjected to criminal
and civil proceedings in a case where they are nominal parties.
He commended the EFCC for adopting the strategy of prosecuting
public officials who assist those that enjoy immunity to loot
their state treasuries.
Falana challenged President Olusegun Obasanjo to publicly
declare his assets, while calling for the confiscation of
the presidential library at Abeokuta, Ogun State.
He expressed the hope that the Code of Conduct Bureau would
become more proactive in dealing with issues of assets declaration
by public officers. The WABA President reasoned that there
was no need asking people to declare their assets if such
information are not going to be made available to the public.
"Any government that is prepared to combat the menace
of corruption has to abolish the Official Secrets Act, enact
the Freedom of Information Bill into law and compel public
disclosure of all assets declaration forms in the custody
of the Code of Conduct Bureau," he declared.
Dealing President Obasanjo’s fight against corruption
a blow, Falana said: "Those who are leading the anti-corruption
crusade must be above board like Caeser’s wife. It has
to be understood by the government that corruption does not
begin and end with offering or receiving bribe by public officers…If
the Obasanjo regime wants to be taken seriously in the war
against corruption, there has to be leadership by example".
While noting that President Obasanjo may have had the ICPC
Act in mind when he cancelled the sale of government houses
in Lagos to top government officials and relations of his
late wife, Stella, Falana urged him to lead by example with
regard to his property.
"The president should take similar action by allowing
the Federal Government to confiscate the presidential library
and the two private universities at Badagry and Yola without
any further delay. If that is not done now, those projects
are going to be taken over by the government at the appropriate
time. After all, it was the same Obasanjo regime that confiscated
the Abacha Foundation and the Women Centre established by
the Abacha junta," he noted.
The lawyer lamented that the fight against official corruption
has been hampered by the lack of political will on the part
of the political class, and the concept of executive immunity
in Nigeria has been grossly abused to the extent that it has
made a mockery of accountability in government, even as there
are adequate provisions in the constitution for the removal
of public officers covered by the immunity clause once they
are proved to have engaged in corruption.
Describing arguments against the removal of the immunity clause
as untenable, Falana contended that since those covered by
the immunity can institute libel suits or secure the enforcement
of their fundamental rights, there can be no legal justification
for preventing other persons from suing or maintaining civil
proceedings against them while in office.
"The immunity conferred on the heads of government from
responsibility for criminal offences including corruption
committed by them while in office, has exposed the war against
corruption to ridicule before the generality of Nigerians…
In spite of the success recorded so far in the anti-corruption
crusade, the Transparency International (TI), has repeatedly
labelled Nigeria to be in the miasma of corrupt practices.
No doubt, corruption has assumed a frightening level in the
country", he stressed.
Falana said: "If the Obasanjo regime wants to be taken
seriously in the war against corruption, there has to be leadership
by example. In this regard, only Governor Umaru Yar’adua
of Katsina State has complied with the law by making a formal
proclamation of his assets".
He condemned the ownership of private universities by President
Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar, describing it
as the worst case of abuse of office ever committed by government
officials in recent times, just as he regretted that when
challenged at the Federal High Court, Obasanjo pleaded immunity
as his defence, while one Dr. Onaolapo Soleye, a retired university
lecturer, claimed ownership of the multi-million naira project.
Also speaking at the occasion, the Inspector General of Police,
Mr. Sunday Ehindero, blamed the elite for the rising spate
of financial crimes, who, he said, used the websites and credit
cards to commit fraud.
Ehindero, who was represented by the DIG in charge of ‘A’
Department, Alhaji Bello Wurno Labaran, identified perpetrators
of these crimes and money laundering as organized business
groups with collaborators around the world.
Earlier, Mr. Jonathan Rusch, Special Counsel for Fraud Prevention
in the U.S State Department averred that Nigeria should not
be treated as a nation of criminals. He made the declaration
while responding to questions after delivering a paper entitled,
Money Laundering Schemes and the Emerging Trends of Identity
Theft. He said organized criminal gangs existed in many nations
of the world and that it was wrong to label all Nigerians
as criminals. He noted the danger which identity fraud and
money laundering posed to the world and called for a multilateral
strategy to combat the problem.
In his contribution, EFCC Director of Operations, Ibrahim
Lamorde noted the increasing use of ATM in banking transactions
in Nigeria and enjoined banks to brace up to the enormous
challenges of a cashless economy.
|
