Concern Mounts over Politicisation of Corruption by Rivers Govt, CCB
Chibuike Amaechi
• Gbajabiamila: Two-senator endorsement rule for ministerial nominees unconstitutional
• Amaechi, others appear before Senate Ethics C’ttee today
• Buhari will not spare ministers linked to graft, says APC
Omololu Ogunamade, Damilola Oyedele and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
As the Senate prepares to screen ministerial nominees tomorrow, there are growing concerns among legal analysts and judicial officials in the country over the politicisation of corruption by some state governments and institutions of the federal government to settle political differences.
Specifically, concern has been raised over the attempt by the Rivers State Government to hound and fast-track the prosecution of the former governor of the state, Chibuike Amaechi for allegedly misappropriating N98 billion during his administration, and even the Code of Conduct Bureau’s (CCB) trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki for false declaration of assets in 2003 without apparently following due process of giving Saraki a chance to validate his asset declaration-an issue that may be settled in the Court of Appeal.
Speaking to THISDAY last night, a legal analyst said what was emerging with some of the cases is that state governments and institutions of the federal government were using allegations of corruption to settle political scores, thereby making “nonsense of the war against corruption”.
On the River State Government, he said it had done everything possible including rushing the outcome of the judicial panel set up to investigate Amaechi’s administration and ordering the state Attorney General Mr. Chinwe Aguma (SAN) to commence the prosecution of the former governor and some of his commissioners in order to block his appointment as a federal minister.
“This is worrisome indeed and is a throwback to what happened in Kano State about 12 years ago when the incumbent governor, Ibrahim Shekerau, used similar means to try and block his predecessor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, when the latter was nominated as minister by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“However, the case was shot down when it became apparent that Shekarau was trying to settle scores,” he said.
The analyst, who preferred not to be named, said if government officials are allowed to continue to persecute their opponents unchecked, by the time the real corruption cases are brought before the courts, there will be fatigue and even the alleged perpetrators of embezzlement of public funds or money laundering will also cry out that they are being unfairly prosecuted.
The warning came just as the Majority Leader in the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, also counselled that the rule requiring two senators from a nominee’s state to endorse his or her nomination runs contrary to the constitution of the country.
He added that to subject a nominee to the whims of just two senators, rather than the constitutional requirement of 55 senators, is illogical.
In an opinion article authored by the House Leader and made available to THISDAY, he acknowledged the constitutional rights of the Senate to its own rules of business, but noted that such rules were not expected to conflict with the provisions of the constitution.
Former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola is the nominee from Gbajabiamila’s home state.
Speculation has been rife that Fashola and Amaechi may encounter stumbling blocks from the senators representing their states in the Senate.
The Senate Committee Chairman on Information and Publicity, Senator Dino Melaye, had stated last week that the Senate decided at its executive session that as part of the screening criteria, any nominee not supported by at least two senators from his state, in accordance with Senate convention, would be dropped.
But the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Olusola Adeyeye (Osun Central), at the weekend, disagreed with Senator Dino’s position saying there was no time during the executive session that a decision was taken that nominees must get the support of two senators from their respective home states.
In his piece however, Gbajabiamila stated: “A situation where two senators from one state decide to play politics and filibuster a competent nominee’s confirmation will not help the country and Nigeria ends up the loser.
“Confirmation of ministerial nominees is a serious national assignment and not an opportunity to settle individual, personal or political scores.”
He cited Section 147(2) of the constitution, which provides that “any appointment to the Office of the Minister of the Government of the Federation, shall be if the nomination of any person to such office is confirmed by the Senate, be made by the President”.
“In other words confirmation or approval is clearly by the Senate (simple majority) and not by two senators from the nominee’s state. Where even all three senators from a state disapprove of a nominee, the nominee can still get the nod of majority of senators and this is what the law requires.
“The law never envisaged the screening of nominees to be a two-man exercise which is what this is tantamount to,” he added.
Gbajabiamila, in the piece, cited other provisions of the constitution, which the endorsement rule contravenes, and cautioned against the introduction of a dangerous and anti-people precedent into the nation’s politics.
“Any rule that leaves the fate of a nominee to the approval of senators from his state who are of a different political bent or ideology has the potential of running foul of the constitution in its application.
“I encourage our senators to reconsider this new made up rule which is unknown to the constitution of our federal republic and a stark antithesis to it,” Gbajabiamila stated.
In the same vein, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has asked the Senate to as a matter of urgent national importance fast-track the screening and confirmation of the ministerial nominees submitted by the president.
In a statement issued by the group’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, CNPP cautioned that any attempt to wittingly or unwittingly simulate a gridlock in the screening process would infuriate the “tired and weary citizens of Nigeria”.
It said any further bickering between the executive and the legislature would further “alienate our people from democracy and hence endanger our fledgling democracy, as some people are already questioning the gains of democracy in the midst of hunger, abject poverty and gross unemployment”.
“For us this is the only panacea to cement a cordial relationship, as a rancorous screening and confirmation process can in no way appease nor reassure the good people of Nigeria who are anxiously waiting for the progressive change they voted for.
“Whereas, we appreciate the need to thoroughly screen the nominees and the import of screening out the bad eggs, however we are making this passionate call of urgent national importance to fast-tract the process, so as to engender the cordial relationship between the executive and the legislature and good governance.
“For the avoidance of doubt, how can we explain and justify that Hajia Amina Mohammed an acclaimed global technocrat may be denied confirmation on the flimsy excuse of state of origin or the hurried manner and antics of the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, to make sure that his predecessor, Chibuike Rotimi Amechi, is denied confirmation and thus for former Governor of Lagos State Babatunde Fashola whose traducers want to revise his enviable records and deny confirmation?
“This is neither the intendment nor the spirit and letters of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as per the confirmation of ministers-designate.
“It is our considered view that it may be far less altruistic if the National Assembly and the Senate in this instance, which on its own initiative constructed from day one the cordial bi-partisan relationship between the ruling party – the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party – to wittingly or unwittingly simulate a gridlock which will definitely infuriate the tired and weary citizenry of our dear nation.
“As a reminder, may we inform that further bickering between the executive and the legislature will further alienate our people from democracy and hence endanger our fledgling democracy, as some people are questioning the gains of democracy in the midst of hunger, abject poverty and gross unemployment.
“Granted that there are fans of gridlock, and pundits who will narrate how the face-off between the executive and legislature nurtures democracy but what they forget is that a gridlock will definitely hinder the noble objectives of Mr. President, erode foreign direct investment and make democracy dysfunctional.
“Therefore, our candid appeal is that the gridlock is avoidable only if the senators in their enlightened self interest and overall national interest during the screening process limit themselves to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and extant laws, and are not necessarily trapped by their own guidelines and rules, whose recent observance is scanty,” the group said.
Similarly, an advocacy group – Legislative Competencies – yesterday advised the Senate not to predicate the screening or otherwise of ministerial nominees on the petitions before it, observing that the parliament was not a law court.
The group, in a statement by its Chief Executive Officer, Charlie Agbo, said such petitions could be malicious, mischievous and politically motivated as he observed that the decision by the presidency not to attach portfolios to nominees’ names would make the job of senators complex.
He advised the senators to demand for the portfolios from the presidency before the screening, but noted that though the power of the senators to confirm or reject nominees was not debatable, he urged them to discard its convention of dropping any nominee who is not supported by at least two of the three senators from his/her state.
The statement read: “The procedure for the screening of ministerial nominees in a country of over 170 million should not be by open public petition.
“This is because not only will it elicit malicious, mischievous and politically motivated petitions, the product of the exercise cannot serve any useful purpose since the Senate is not a court.
“In effect, when it receives a petition with criminal imputation against a nominee, will it stand down the screening process until the matter is disposed of in a court of law?
“It is clear the senate wants to be as serious as it can be, but is hamstrung by a tradition of non-disclosure of portfolios which will inevitably operate to render the screening exercise unprofitable.
“To avert this obvious traditional consequence, the senate is advised to ask the president for a guide to his intended deployment of the nominees to depart from this failed tradition. By doing this, it would have exhausted for the moment what is possible for it and shifted the onus of due process and diligence to the executive.
“The right of the senate to confirm or reject a nominee is absolute. Powers of this nature are accompanied with a high sense of responsibility. The senate must guard against the use of the two-home state senators support tradition as an instrument of vendetta bearing in mind that the rule emanated from the hallowed chambers of the upper legislative house and not from the constitution.
“It is a very controversial rule which is already being discarded in most democracies where it was borrowed from to formulate our own variant. It is double edged, as senators can find themselves at either side of its lethal blade sooner or later. It is therefore best ignored.”
Despite the concerns raised by Gbajabiamila and others, the former Rivers State governor and other ministerial nominees who have petitions against them have been summoned to appear before the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges to defend themselves today.
The invitation is a fallout of the petitions written against them ahead of the commencement of their screening tomorrow by the upper legislative chamber.
Making this disclosure to THISDAY in a telephone conversation last night, Senate Committee Chairman on Ethics, Human Rights and Privileges, Senator Sam Anyanwu, said all nominees who have petitions against them have been summoned to appear before the committee at 2 pm today.
Saraki had on Thursday directed the committee to ensure that all petitions against ministerial nominees were thoroughly investigated and concluded before the commencement of the screening tomorrow.
Anyanwu, however, informed THISDAY last night that he was yet conclude the procedure for the meeting, whether it would be a closed-door meeting or an open session.
He advised THISDAY to meet the clerk of the committee before the meeting commences to find out the procedure.
“The committee will meet tomorrow (today) and we have invited all those who have petitions against them to appear before the committee starting from 2 pm. You can see the clerk of the committee before the meeting to find out whether it will be a closed-door session or not,” he said.
Last Wednesday, Senator George Sekibo (Rivers East), had presented a petition by a group known as The Integrity Group against Amaechi where they demanded the rejection and withdrawal of Amaechi’s nomination from the ministerial list in view of allegations of financial impropriety levelled against him when he was the governor of Rivers State.
The petitioners attached a number of documents to back their allegations.
The group, which described itself as a non-governmental organisation operating in Rivers State, said its goal was to fight corruption and ensure that corrupt persons are brought to justice and stolen monies recovered.
Meanwhile, the Deputy National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Lawan Shuaibu, has said that neither President Muhammadu Buhari nor the leadership of the party intends to interfere in any on-going corruption probe involving any of the ministerial nominees.
He said while the APC-led administration would not like to shield any member of the incoming cabinet from corruption prosecution at the courts, it would not be swayed to act outside the provisions of the constitution and against the rule of law.
Speaking to THISDAY in an interview in Abuja at the weekend, Shuaibu said that Nigerians could be assured that the president would not spare any member of his team whose indictment resulted in a conviction at the courts.
Against the background of concerns generated by corruption allegations and petitions made in respect of some of the ministerial nominees, Shuaibu said the party was convinced that the president would not intervene in a matter before the courts or try to save anybody facing prosecution for corruption-related allegations.
“You see, the president has said several times that he believes in the rule of law, that he respects the rule of the law. Anything that is not in line with the constitution and the extant laws of this country, he would not go for it.
“When it comes to the issue of the choice of people who will serve as ministers in his administration, I believe that until one is convicted in the law court, we will be chasing shadows on the basis of suspicions and assumptions,” he said.
On the allegation that the current anti-corruption crusade had been biased, Shuaibu retorted: “What do you expect the president to do? President Buhari has made it clear, even during his recent interview in New York, he said would not be interfering with judicial process or procedures and he will wait to see when a court makes a decision on anyone, that is now when he will respect the decision of the court.
“I think, quite frankly that he is not going to stop any investigations against any member of his cabinet. But should that investigation lead to a conviction in court, I assure you that even before President Buhari asks the person to resign, such a person would have brought a letter of resignation.
“And when you are talking about people who have contributed to his emergence as president, I do not expect anybody who contributed to the emergence of the president in the last general election did so because they wanted to escape from prosecution. If anybody thinks that way, I would have to say that the president is not thinking that way.”
Speaking on the high public expectations from the APC-led administration, Shuaibu said once the ministers have been appointed, the government would commence the full implementation of its programmes meant to touch the lives of Nigerians.
“As soon as the ministers are sworn in, the business of governance will commence in earnest and the implementation of the programmes of government will start off.
“I understand that a supplementary budget may be sent to the National Assembly for consideration in order to enable government perform its functions till the end of the year when next year’s budget will be presented.
“This is all geared towards ensuring that government takes off in earnest. Definitely, it is not going to be business as usual. We promised Nigerians change and I can assure you that the party will bring about that change in every aspect that we promised Nigeria – in security, the economy, agriculture, power supply and unemployment.
“It is left for the president to guide the ministers on how he wants them to help him run the business of governance, particularly where people are expecting service delivery,” he said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment