Editor’s note: Majority of the people in
Nigeria eagerly await to see justice served with the victory of
President-elect Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. Some even feel that after May 29,
majority of the looters will flee the country.
In this piece titled “How Buhari Can Arrest Deziani And
Okonjo-Iweala On May 29″, Illesanmi Omabomi advocates that
President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, should start the charge against
corruption immediately after concluding his swearing-in ceremony.
Story highlights:
– Arresting and charging Allison Deziani Madueke and Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala will send a clear and unambiguous message about the
ferocity of the incoming President’s war against corruption.
– Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, should start the charge against corruption immediately after his swearing in ceremony at Eagle Square.
– Their arrest will yield valuable information into the more
complicated investigations and encourage others to step forward and
make voluntary disclosures, thereby reducing the time and resources
needed for the fight against corruption.
(SaharaReporters) – I can afford to take the risk of concluding that the
majority of Nigerians would like to see brought to justice, and swiftly
so, the people who brought Nigeria to her knees through the looting of
our commonwealth.
Many Nigerians are afraid that some, if not most of these looters, may
flee the country after May 29, 2015, before investigations are
commenced/concluded. The purpose of this article is to advocate that the
President elect, Mohamadu Buhari, should start the blitzkrieg against
corruption immediately after concluding his swearing-in ceremony at
Eagle Square on May 29, 2015.
Based on readily available public information, there is no better way
and place to start that fight than the arrest Allison Deziani Madueke
and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala before the end of day on May 29, 2015. Both
women are currently serving as minister for Petroleum and Finance
respectively. They both represent some of the biggest fishes, yes
fishes, in the pond.
These two individuals are not the most corrupt members of the now
infamous Goodluck Jonathan led presidency—and it will take a very long
time before the full extent of the damage done to our economy can be
fully established, if at all possible! However, in the case of Deziani
and Okonjo-Iweala, the information gleaned from the several House of
Representatives investigations into the 10 Billion Naira NNPC plane
maintenance contracts, and oil subsidy payments that were not budgeted
for provide the incoming President with enough information to order
their immediate arrests and have them charged with the appropriate
offences the same day.
The new president should demonstrate his commitment to the rule of law
and the time limit requirement for charging arrested persons with
offences known to law and having such persons presented before a court
of law by ensuring that both women appear in the court on Monday June 1,
2015 to enter pleas and apply for bail. (May 29, 2015 being a Friday).
Like many other Nigerians, I believe that both women are surely guilty
of more heinous offenses than the ones mentioned above. However,
arresting and charging them will send a clear and unambiguous message
about the ferocity of the incoming President’s war against corruption,
yield valuable information into the more complicated investigations and
encourage others to step forward and make voluntary disclosures,
thereby reducing the time and resources needed for the fight against
corruption.
The President-Elect can then offer leniency on the basis of voluntary
disclosures, have a hiatus of a few days and wait to see if there will
be takers of the offer. The majority of Nigerian politicians are cowards
and trust me, seeing the powerful Deziani and Okonjo-Iweala charged
before the court, they will be lining up to confess. This approach will
be cheaper, point you to previously unknown and maybe otherwise never
possible to find stolen resources. I believe it will also yield more of
the stolen resources. This topic will be fleshed out in full in another
article.
For me, calling for the arrest and trial of Okonjo-Iweala is personal
anguish for me but the nation’s interest must be the over-riding
consideration. It is anguish for me because at the tail end of
Obasanjo’s presidency she was one of those I sincerely considered worthy
of becoming the President or Vice President at the very minimum. How
she allowed herself to be sucked into the bowels of Goodluck Jonathan’s
rampaging corruption whale is an examination that would have commenced
inside her head by now.
Let PDP supporters call me what they want and I am not a member of APC.
The party I support is the one I believe has the interest of Nigeria at
heart. I believe Mohamadu Buhari of APC does at this point in time.
Nigerians, including me are eager to see these corrupt and arrogant
politicians from all parties who bestrode our political landscape in the
recent past like Colossus, feeding fat on our collective inheritance
brought to justice and swiftly so. The stoppage or reduction of
corruption and the recovery of our stolen resources is critical the
efforts to build a sustainable society in which we all have a reasonable
chance of achieving our legitimate aspirations.
-Naij
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