EFCC PROBE: EX-MINISTERS TO MEET JONATHAN TODAY

EFCC PROBE: EX-MINISTERS TO MEET
JONATHAN TODAY
Some former ministers that served
under ex-President Goodluck
Jonathan's administration will meet
the ex-president today (Sunday), SUNDAY PUNCH has learnt.
Barring last minute changes, it was
learnt that ongoing investigations of the
former President's aides and calls for
his own probe would form part of the
discussion at the meeting. It was gathered that many of the former
ministers were not only disturbed, but
also jittery by the concentration of
President Muhammadu Buhari's anti-
graft war on those who served under
Jonathan. Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, in a
report on Friday had said Buhari should
authorise the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission to probe and
prosecute Jonathan.
Ndume had said, "Nobody is supposed to be above the law. If Jonathan is a
culprit, he should face the law. If there is
evidence that the former President
should face the law, then, he should.
After all, he is presumed innocent until
proven guilty." Also in his response to an enquiry from
Saturday PUNCH on Friday, the
President's Special Adviser on Media
and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, had
said, "The President does not tele-
guide the EFCC in any way." The Senior Special Assistant to the
President on Media and Publicity, Garba
Shehu, had also said Buhari did not sign
any pact with Jonathan or any past
President to exempt him (Jonathan) from
probe. According to Shehu, Buhari, being an
open person, would never go into a
secret pact with anybody, especially on
his administration's ongoing anti-graft
war.
A top member of the Peoples Democratic Party, who confided in
SUNDAY PUNCH, said the pressure on
Buhari to probe Jonathan would form
part of the discussion when the ex-
ministers meet the former President
today (Sunday). The PDP chieftain said, "Barring last
minute changes, some former ministers
would meet Jonathan tomorrow
(Sunday) in Abuja. There is no way the
issue of probes would not be discussed
at such a meeting." Probing ex-President will be bad
precedent — PDP
But some PDP leaders, on Saturday,
called on Buhari not to succumb to
pressure being mounted on him to probe
Jonathan. They said doing so would amount to
laying a bad precedent.
A PDP Board of Trustees member, Chief
Ebenezer Babatope, urged the Buhari-led
Federal Government not to probe
Jonathan, adding that doing so would humiliate the PDP leader.
Speaking in a telephone interview with
one of our correspondents on Saturday,
Babatope described those calling for the
probe of Jonathan as enemies of the
country. He said the former president should not
be probed unless "it becomes brazenly
open that a lot of thefts are traced to
him, but for now nothing has been
traced to him."
He added, "The late sage, Pa Obafemi Awolowo, said you must not humiliate
your leadership. When you decide to
humiliate your leadership, it is not
Jonathan that you're humiliating, it is
your values that you are casting
aspersions on. "Those calling for the probe of
Jonathan are enemies of this country.
Whoever is spearheading the probe may
be digging his political grave. Have they
found him guilty?
"All the noise we have been hearing is about the security vote. Buhari
embarked on such a probe during his
first coming as a military leader when
he threw all manner of Nigerian leaders
into jail."
When reminded that the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Olisa
Metuh, and a former Chief of Defence
Staff, Air Chief Marshall, Alex Badeh
(retd.), said Jonathan approved the
monies that they allegedly got, Babatope
said the duo reserved the right to tender their positions in court.
When asked if he did not feel disturbed
by the number of fraud cases being
unearthed by the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, Babatope said one
of the solutions to corruption – as proffered by Awolowo – was equipping
the Nigeria Police and giving them free
rein to operate.
Responding to one of our
correspondents' comment on the
allegation that $1m was found in Badeh's house, Babatope said Badeh
had denied that money was found in his
house.
When our correspondent sent a text
message to the phone ofanother PDP
BoT member, Chief Shauib Oyedokun, seeking to know his opinion on the
matter, he said, "Let's wait till the
'call' is formal."
Also speaking on the issue, a former
Special Assistant to the former President
on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said there might be nothing wrong in Buhari
asking Jonathan to account for his
actions while in office, but that the
President should be weary of setting a
bad precedent.
Speaking with one of our correspondents on the telephone, Okupe
said, "Every regime has the right to
investigate and we are not going to talk
on whether it is right or wrong to ask
the former President to account for his
stewards while in office or not. "But in asking questions about the
actions of his predecessor, we must ask
whether such actions would be good
precedent or not. However, whatever
he does is at his discretion as the
president and the commander-in- chief."
A former Deputy National Chairman of
the PDP, Chief Bode George, also said
there was nothing wrong in probing the
activities of former President Goodluck
Jonathan while in office. He, however, said the probes being
carried out by the EFCC must be holistic,
adding that it would be proper for the
national leader of the All Progressives
Congress, AsiwajuBola Tinubu, who is
also a former Governor of Lagos State, to be probed as well.
George told SUNDAY PUNCH that it was
public knowledge that Tinubu had
private jets and wondered why the EFCC
never questioned him on his source of
wealth. George said, "I have been reading
about all the monies that were stolen
through the Office of the National
Security Adviser and if the EFCC is
probing all that with a view to
recovering money, I have no problem with that.
"If they feel probing Jonathan is
proper, they can go ahead but they must
remember that what is sauce for the
goose is sauce for the gander. There
must be no sacred cow in this anti- corruption war. You cannot probe
Jonathan and refuse to probe Bola
Tinubu."
George urged the EFCC to respect the
office of the President when probing
Jonathan. A former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi
Fani-Kayode, however said the former
President shouldn't be arrested.
Fani-Kayode told SUNDAY PUNCH that
Jonathan had done nothing to warrant
being arrested and that those calling for his arrest and interrogation should
understand the implications of doing so.
"For example, Senator Ndume called
for Jonathan's arrest. This is a
shameful and unnecessary contribution
and if Ndume feels that Jonathan has done anything wrong, he should present
the evidence to the authorities and the
public, rather than try to demonise the
man.
"Even where mistakes have been
made, I am a strong believer in loyalty and I will stand by the man that I
campaigned for during the presidential
election, who is also now the leader of
our party. Jonathan should be treated
with respect and dignity at all times and
he should always be given the benefit of the doubt."
Jonathan's kinsmen kick
Jonathan's kinsmen have expressed
dissatisfaction over calls for the probe of
the former President.
The spokesman for the Ijaw National Congress, Mr. Victor Burubo, told SUNDAY
PUNCH that it was wrong for anybody to
begin to plot the investigation of the
former President.
Burubo argued that since some of the
ministers who served under Jonathan were already being investigated, the
Otuoke, Bayelsa-born politician should
be allowed to enjoy his retirement.
"I don't think he (Jonathan) should be
probed. In every government, there are
people responsible for various functions and when such people are found
wanting, they are fished out and probed.
It is not the head of the government that
should be probed.
"In Buhari's government, people
padded the national budget. Would they now say that Buhari should be
investigated? Nobody has said that
Buhari should be investigated," he said.
Describing Jonathan as a national icon
who has been winning international
awards since he left the seat of government, Burubo urged critics of the
ex-President to show respect.
Also, the spokesperson of the Ijaw
Youth Congress, Mr. Eric Omare, said in a
telephone interview withSUNDAY PUNCH
that the ongoing probe of Jonathan's former aides could as well be termed as
an investigation of the former President.
"Jonathan is already under probe. If
you are probing those under the former
President, you are as well investigating
Jonathan," Omare said. Similarly, the National Coordinator of the
Niger Delta Youth Parliament, Mr.
ImohOkoko, rose in defence of the
former President, saying he should not
be probed.
-Punch
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