Stakeholders – Bar Lawmakers-Elect Underneath EFCC Investigation From Management Positions

The lawmakers-elect in the National Assembly and their party leaders continue to jostle for leadership positions of the two chambers, several citizens are worried that some of the front runners for the top positions are those who have corruption relat­ed cases in court or are being in­vestigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). CONTINUE READING>>>...CONTINUE READING>>>

Some of the frontrunners who are under the radar of the EFCC or other anti-graft agencies include former Akwa Ibom gov­ernor, Godswill Akpabio, and for­mer governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, while former Abia State governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, faces case retrial.

The concerned citizens worry that if those who have pending corrupt cases in court are elected into top positions in the legisla­ture, the war against corruption may be endangered.

Speaking on the issue, Bar­rister Onyinye-Gandhi Chuk­wunenye, spokesperson of Comrade Omoyele Sowore, the African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, said: “The dubious actions of these mercenaries masquerading as political party leaders, are hard­ly a surprise to those of us who understand the corrupt intrigues of Nigerian politics.

“As we repeatedly told Nigeri­ans when we were urged to form certain alliances, many of these parties are mere fronts for the corrupt oligarchs in the All Pro­gressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“Their conducts before and after the elections were choreo­graphed to match the scripts of these ruinous oligarchs.

“The case withdrawals were preconceived as a post-election gambit to lend the aura of cred­ibility and acceptability to the grand electoral fraud perpetrated by the APC on February 25, and March 18, 2023, with the active connivance of INEC.

“The problem they have though, is that they can muscle the Nigerian people and steal an election, but they cannot forcibly extract acceptance and legitimacy.

“Whatever shenanigans they orchestrate through their errand boys, the festering sore of their crimes against the people of Ni­geria will remain open, and they will forever have the harsh judg­ment of history to contend with.”

Rev Dr Andrews Okhirebhu, a public affairs commentator wondered if there is indeed still anything like a war against cor­ruption by the outgoing govern­ment or just a media hype.

He said: “In reality, there is no such war officially any anywhere and at any level of governance, but only few pockets of convic­tions.

“That again is obviously po­litical vendetta and screen game that played out. But, if you want to talk of sincere government commitment to fighting the war of corruption, let us forget about it and talk of other issues in Ni­geria.

“It is funny saying this pres­ent government is fighting cor­ruption when officials of the government itself in all spec­trums or arms are the corruption warlords, initiating, aiding and abetting the supreme reign of the corruption in the land using the same positions and government tools meant to fight the war to encourage it.” CONTINUE READING>>>

Contributing, Ambassador Dr. Kalu Ofon Emmanuel, Lagos State Chairman, International Human Rights Protection Ser­vice, stated: “A corrupt person can never fight corruption and wins. When you point your index finger at someone, the rest of the fingers are definitely pointing back at you.

“The implications for the war against corruption is that if any of the frontliners like Akpabio, Kalu, or Yari, who may have corrupt cases pending either in courts or with the anti-graft agen­cies or are under investigation, wins the Senate Presidency that will amount to mega corruption harvest of the millennium.

“If truly the winner has a liv­ing conscience, he cannot have the audacity to fight corruption. Let us call a spade a spade, if we had a corruption free country, these people should not be pro­jecting themselves publicly.”