GROUP CARPETS FG OVER ALLEGED CORRUPT POLITICIANS LIST
A group, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) has carpeted the Federal Government in a statement signed by its Executive Chairman, Debo Adeniran, over its attitude to the list of alleged corrupt politicians that should be prevented from contesting the next year election.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had submitted the controversial list which contains names of 50 notable politicians that, according to the anti-graft commission, should be prevented from vying for any elective post.
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Muhammed Bello Adoke (SAN), had kicked against the action of EFCC over the submission of the list, describing it as a dangerous gamble capable of heating up the polity and warned the commission to desist from such act.
However, CACOL frowned at the AGF's reaction to what the group believed was a move in the right direction that should be supported by the government if its anti-corruption crusade should be taken seriously. The group described the posture of the AGF over the matter as baseless and a clever scheme to deceive Nigerians who demand that the reign of corruption in the country should come to an end.
While insisting that there was nothing wrong with EFCC's action, the group vowed to embark on mass public protest if the government went ahead with its decision to ignore the list. 'If we allow this set of people to contest the next elections because they are yet to be convicted by the courts where their trials have been stalled for years, and eventually they are convicted, what happens to the mandate already given to them?
Are we saying that apart from these less than 100 persons standing trial for corruption charges there are no clean and credible Nigerians to stand for elections out of a population of more than 150 million people? Our country needs to get it right. We can't agitate and spend over N80 billion to plan and organise a credible election without the participation of credible candidates. Such a venture will throw up more corrupt candidates and deepen the culture of impunity and corruption in our nation. For us in CACOL, we say no to corrupt leaders!
'The EFCC, we are made to understand through their statement, has not prepared any advisory list other than the list of their cases in courts and which we have on our own advertised in newspapers in March. As such, we believe very strongly that the statement credited to the Minister of Justice, Adoke, in a letter dated Sunday, October 24, a day before the publication of the list he was criticising smacks of a hidden agenda by the corrupt elements with the full backing of the AGF. As such, we demand that Mr. Adoke should be sacked like his predecessor, Michael Aondoaka since it is obvious that he is already working in concert with the corrupt elements to protect them and their interest just like Aondaka did.