News Roundup
Press Statement on the Fight Against Corruption
Aug 6, 2007, 20:54
| | The attention of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has been drawn to media reports suggesting that he is hampering the activities of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the fight against corruption.
Specifically, the slant in most of the stories is that because the President intends to ‘protect’ some former Governors who allegedly bankrolled his campaign, he has decided to curb the powers of the EFCC.
The Special Adviser to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Mr Olusegun Adeniyi in a Press Statement he signed on Monday August 6 states very categorically that nothing can be farther from the truth. President Yar’Adua is very serious about his commitment to instilling discipline, transparency, respect for the rule of law and due process in the conduct of government business and remains resolute in his resolve to fight corruption and abuse of office.
He also states that the President will support all the agencies of government responsible for bringing to justice people found to have abused their offices either in the past, now or in future.
In doing so, however, the President is mindful that any goal pursued without recourse to due process and rule of law will be antithetical to the promotion of our democracy and can only achieve short term results.
President Yar’Adua firmly believes that in fighting corruption, nobody and no institution, and this includes the Presidency and himself as President, should be seen to be above the law and the Constitution.
It is for this reason that he today granted the following requests of the Attorney General and Justice Minister:
1. That all agencies involved in the prosecution of Criminal Offences such as the EFCC and ICPC should report and initiate Criminal Proceedings with the consent and approval of the Attorney General of the Federation as specified in relevant sections of the Constitution.
2.That the Attorney General of the Federation exercise powers conferred on him pursuant to Section 43 of the EFCC Act 2004 to make rules or regulations with respect to the exercise of any of the duties, functions or powers of the EFCC.
I would like to emphasize that the decision to enforce the powers of the Attorney-General of the Federation was solely motivated by President Yar’Adua’s respect for due process and the rule of law and not by any desire to shield anybody from criminal prosecution.
President Yar’Adua has also granted the Attorney-General’s requests to ensure better coordination among the country’s law enforcement agencies and avoid untidy multiple criminal prosecutions as are being currently undertaken by the EFCC, ICPC and the Code of Conduct Tribunal in respect of the same alleged offences.
Without prejudice to the foregoing, President Yar’Adua wishes to assure all Nigerians that his Administration will never provide a safe haven or escape route for anyone, no matter how highly placed they may be and irrespective of whatever role they played or claim to have played in his election, if they are found to have soiled their hands by looting public funds for their personal aggrandizement.
Olusegun Adeniyi
SA to the President
(Communications)
August 6, 2007
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