Fight corruption with best global practices, CLO tells Buhari

Civil Liberty Organisation (CLO) has charged President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to fight corruption in the country in accordance with best global practices and stop the melodrama, which it tagged, “Baba Sala” kind of drama.

CLO made the call in Lagos at a press conference it addressed, titled, “Who wants Adoke dead? We say no to ‘Bola Ige’ Treat for him,” calling on the Buhari government to deconstruct the reign of terror concerning anti-graft war and promote freedom, rule of law and democracy in the land by obeying all court orders, whether for or against the government.

CLO Board member, Halima Ibrahim, who spoke at the conference, reiterated that the group was in support of fight against corruption and would not condone it’s practice, but said it had watched with disbelief how the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had treated Nigerians to the tragi-comedy of invading people’s home without a court warrant as required by the country’s laws.

Speaking on the invasion of residence of a former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke in Kano about a fortnight ago and the detention of many other Nigerians against court orders, the CLO chief said the EFCC raid yielded no clue as it returned with empty having found nothing incriminating.

“At the end of the raid, in which it returned empty handed, the EFCC announced that it raided the house in search of document. It did not, however, say whether the document it was looking for was to be used in prosecuting Mr. Adoke or to serve other undeclared purposes.”

“If the document was meant to serve prosecution purpose, it would, therefore, be suggested that the EFCC had no evidence on the basis of which to prosecute the Attorney-General. It means also that EFCC’s method is to arrest and arraign first, then investigate after. This is certainly against the letters and spirit of our laws,” she said.

Ibrahim said what Nigerians should be worried and pay more attention to are issues relating to fraudulent transaction on an oil block tagged, OPL 245 and ask who would want the former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Adoke, dead, following certain disclosures that he made about some top Nigerians that were involved in the deal.

She said the concern of her group bordered on the recent interview granted by Adoke to an online media where he alleged that his life was in danger because some powerful interests who were involved in the said oil deal were bent on silencing him to cover their culpability.

Ibraham, who recalled with great sorrow, the brutal assassination of Chief Bola Ige, 15 years ago without the killers being apprehended, however, warned that Mr. Adoke must not come to the same tragic end as his predecessor.

“He (Adoke) has mentioned names of people that were involved in the deal. Perhaps, it is about time the EFCC got serious and started looking in the directions of these people as well,” the CLO chief said.

Ibrahim, while urging the Buhari administration to “encourage Adoke and others like him to come out and unveil the cloak of whatever transpired in past governments and bring all perpetrators, whether big or small to justice,” also called on the EFCC to do a rethink of its “undemocratic, fascist and unlawful excesses that have become associated with the commission lately.”

“The media trials, and the dramatic invasion of homes for the camera, do not add to the anti-corruption credentials of the agency,” she said.