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EFCC and Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello
By Sun News Publishing
Sunday,
April 20, 2008
Recently, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
gave the nation cause to doubt its sincerity in the handling
of the expected arraignment of former president, Olusegun
Obasanjo’s daughter, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, for
her involvement in the sharing of N300 million unspent 2007
budget funds from the Federal Ministry of Health. The Senator
willfully failed to appear before an Abuja High Court on April
8, 2008, alongside others, including the erstwhile Minister
of Health, Professor Adenike Grange, who were arrested and
arraigned for involvement in the same crime.
The Senator, who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on
Health, was charged, in abstention, with conspiracy and retention
of stolen proceeds of a crime. She had been widely seen going
about her duties in Abuja, in the full glare of the public,
prior to her expected arrest, yet the EFCC told the court
she could not be arraigned because she was at large.
The explanation by the agency that it could not arrest the
Senator in the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly,
without any relevant law to back this position, and the lack
of a serious attempt to effect her arrest outside the chambers,
are suggestive of an application of double standards in the
effort to bring persons who were implicated in the scandal
to book.
Obasanjo-Bello has since denied the accusation that she was
at large by the anti-crime agency, and has feigned ignorance
of the fact that she was wanted by the EFCC for arraignment.
She, through her lawyers, said she was never summoned for
appearance in court, yet she has remained unavailable to the
EFCC.
The EFCC claim that its operatives stormed her house, last
week, without any success at arresting her, has not done anything
to improve its image as being serious with the plan for her
arraignment. The Senator has since gone underground with the
Senate, which has expressed worries about the situation, mandating
its Chief Whip, Senator Kanti Bello, to ascertain her whereabouts.
The ding-dong game between the EFCC and Senator Obasanjo-Bello
over her arraignment in court with others who were involved
in the health ministry scandal is in bad taste. The development
does not paint a picture of the agency as being serious with
the assignment even as the Senator has not given a good account
of herself as a law-abiding member of the Senate, the highest
law-making body in the country.
We are amazed that a Senator who should know better will play
a hide and seek game with a body duly constituted by the law
and fail to respond to summons to clear her name.
We hold that it is not enough for the Senator to profess her
innocence and self-righteousness on the floor of the Senate
and in the press.
The matter, since her arraignment, has clearly gone beyond
these. She has to legally exonerate herself from the charges
against her. The nation expects her to demonstrate respect
for the rule of law by presenting herself to the EFCC and
also make herself available in court for physical arraignment,
to plead her defence. She can no longer deny the fact that
she is wanted by the EFCC.
Nigeria expects Senate Obasanjo-Bello to set a good example
for ordinary Nigerians on the supremacy of the law and due
process. The courts are there to hear her submissions and
either affirm her innocence, and vacate the charges against
her or try her alongside others with whom she has been charged.
The EFCC, by failing to apprehend the Senator, is unwittingly
creating the impression that she is above the law, and will
be treated differently from others. This attempt to create
an impression that the lady is a sacred cow, who will attend
to the anti-crime agency and the courts at her whims, is condemnable.
The lame excuses from the EFCC is a slap on the avowed commitment
of the administration of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adau
to strict adherence to due process and the rule of law. If
Obasanjo-Bello has contravened the laws of the land, her name
and status as a child of an erstwhile president, should not
be an impediment to her arrest and trial.
It will do nothing to help our anti-corruption war for an
accused person to be walking freely when others with whom
she was indicted were arrested and brought to court. The EFCC,
by allowing this anomaly to persist, has shown that it has
not mustered enough courage to confront the challenge of docking
indicted persons without regard for their status on political
connections.
The agency has do demonstrate that it applies the same standards
to all in waging its anti-corruption crusade. We demand an
end to the EFCC gerrymandering on the Iyabo-Obasanjo case.
Let the agency save itself from ridicule and do all that is
needful to bring Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello to trial.
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