Alamieyeseigha, Yar’Adua, Adisa’s pardon: Trade union, groups criticize Federal Government action

by Rachel Ogbu

Photo: BBC
Photo: BBC

Alamieyeseigha, former governor while President Jonathan was deputy was prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission under the leadership of its former chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu for corruption.

Others on the list to get pardon included General Oladipo Diya; former Chief of General Staff during the reign of Sani Abacha; Shettima Bulama; former Managing Director of the Bank of the North who was convicted of fraud, late Gen Musa Yar’Adua; former Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters and late Maj.-Gen Abdulkareem Adisa, Minister of Works who was found guilty in the alleged coup that got Diya into prison.

However, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, said the National Working Committee had not yet debated on the matter yet. “I can tell you truthfully that the National Working Committee has not discussed this issue. As other Nigerians, we have read the decision of the Federal Government and we have been informed about the decision of the Federal Government through the media. For now, the party has no comment on this matter,” Metuh said.

The Punch covers more details:

Meanwhile, opposition political parties, civil rights groups, lawyers as well as the organised labour particularly condemned the pardon granted to Alamieyeseigha.

They also frowned on the statements credited to the Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe.

Okupe was quoted as saying the President had “no apologies” for exercising his constitutional powers of granting the pardon.

National Publicity Secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change, Rotimi Fashakin, said, “For as long as Okupe has this appointment, we should not expect anything better.

“Nobody should be surprised at the way Okupe has decided to go about this. He can only work in an environment where there is so much sheer impunity.

“He has been a man that thrives in working with bosses who operate with impunity. He cannot work where there is true democratic governance.”

Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders through its Executive Chairman, Debo Adeniran, said the pardon to Alamieyeseigha was another proof that the present administration was corrupt.

The group said, “President Goodluck Jonathan is proving every Nigerian right by the hour that he is not only rudderless, but corrupt to the teeth.

“It is unthinkable that a presidential pardon could be handed a common thief like Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who bled his state’s coffers white during his tenure as the governor because such pardon is only given for political offence not criminal.”

President General of the Trade Union Congress, Mr. Peter Esele, said the decision was a setback to the nation’s campaign against corruption.

He said granting state pardon to convicted felons, who committed acts against the state, was not in the interest of this administration and the country.

Esele said the President had a responsibility to disclose the information which he relied upon to grant presidential pardon to the affected persons.

Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Chief Mile Ahamba, Chief Awa Kalu and Mallam Yusuf Ali, also spoke on the pardon.

While, Ahamba and Ali noted that the action was not proper, they expressed reservations at its timing.

According to Ahamba, the decision to pardon the former governor has cast doubts over the seriousness of the anti-corruption campaign.

Ali said the pardon granted Alamiesiegha contradicted the spirit of the Federal Government’s war against corruption.

Kalu said the development was in order, as long as Jonathan exercised his powers lawfully.

He said, “It is not a question of whether it is proper; it is a question of whether the President had exercised his powers in a lawful manner in granting pardon, not just to Alamieyeseigha, but to the other persons concerned.

“If that power has been exercised in a lawful manner, I am afraid nobody can question it.”

 

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