A civil society organisation, the
African Centre for Media and Information Literacy, AFRICMIL, has called for a
“full scale and wide-ranging investigations” into the administrations of former
Nigerian leaders, demanding that all those who breached public trust should be
brought to account.
Reacting to the recent public
exchange between President Muhammadu Buhari and former President Olusegun
Obasanjo, the organisation said the federal government has a duty to probe “all
grey areas in every administration, beyond the alleged $16 billion power sector
expenditure”.
Recall that Buhari had while
addressing a group of his supporters on Tuesday, suggested that Obasanjo has
questions to answer for spending $16 billion on power without commensurate
result. President Obasanjo promptly
responded by saying he was ready for probe.
Reacting in a statement issued by
its coordinator, Chido Onumah, AFRICMIL said, “This challenge the former
president throws at the federal government presents a unique opportunity for us
as a country to revisit our past and bring all our past leaders to account.
Reopening the power sector expenditure probe would be a step in the right
direction for the country, but that should just be the beginning.
“It is high time the unwritten
amnesty given to former heads of states and presidents was jettisoned and those
individuals scrutinized to get them to fully account for their stewardship and
explain the hemorrhage Nigeria suffered overtime.
“Apart from Sani Abacha, who died
in office, there is no Nigerian leader whose personal misconduct was subjected
to criminal investigation. This is both an anomaly and an irony. It is ironic
that those who are alive are left to enjoy the fruits of their misdeeds,” he
said.
Onumah cited the example of many
countries including Israel, Brazil, South Korea and Malaysia, in recent time,
which subjected their former leaders to corruption probe, saying that practice
is a major deterrence against corruption for future leaders.
“Nigerian money is our common
patrimony. No one can wave off stealing on behalf of all citizens, and ignoring
the conduct of former leaders is doing exactly that,” he added.
Describing what he called
“criminal collusion” on the part of successive leaders, he stated that it was
unfair for law enforcement agents to go after subordinates “while the big
masquerades on whose table the buck stops are deliberately let off the hook”.
AFRICMIL called for a strong
independent inter-agency panel to investigate major scandals since the
administration of former military ruler, Ibrahim Babangida.
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