A group called the Forum for Transparency and Accountability in Governance has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to appoint politicians facing allegations of fraud to his cabinet
The group specifically mentioned former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, who is facing trial for allegedly embezzling N32 billion from sales of Federal Government Houses
The group also called on the EFCC and other anti-graft agencies to prosecute former and incumbent public officers who have pending cases
A group calling itself the Forum for Transparency and Accountability in Governance has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to succumb to pressures from any politician facing allegations of fraud in court or before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to be appointed into his cabinet in the guise of a party loyal member.
The President was summoned in the aftermath of the 10th Senate’s much-anticipated list of Ministerial nominees, for which President Tinubu has a statutory period of 60 days to make the list available to the upper legislative Chamber for screening.
In a joint statement signed by its Convener, Dr Bala Musa Mustapha, Secretary General, Mr Nouel Malama, and Director of Publicity, Nafisa Hamid Jika, the transparency group maintained that President Tinubu should tread carefully and not appoint politicians of questionable character to his cabinet.
The group emphasised that the former Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, should be kept at arm’s length and isolated from the corridors of power if the current administration is to be taken seriously, given that he is on trial for allegedly embezzling N32 billion from sales of Federal Government Houses between 2005 and 2007 when he was Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
The group recalled that on November 19, 2019, Justice Binta Nyako-led Federal High Court ruled that Malam Nasir El-Rufai lacked the authority to prevent the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from investigating and prosecuting him on fraud allegations.
In her celebrated judgement in a suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/60/09 filed by El-Rufai in which he listed 13 respondents, including the EFCC, FG, and others, seeking to stop his prosecution, Justice Nyako insisted that El-Rufai accounts for the whereabouts of N32 billion.
The forum maintained that El-Rufai’s prosecution was proceeding at the Federal High Court until he became governor of Kaduna State in May 2015, when the immunity of office halted it, and that now that he is out of office, the anti-graft agency should have resumed his prosecution rather than considering making him a Minister.
The group also stated that El-Rufai’s prosecution followed a damning audit report by two world-class audit firms, Akintola Williams Deloitte and Aminu Ibrahim & Co, which revealed that N32 billion in proceeds from the sale of Federal Government Houses was missing.
The statement read:
Any government that pride itself on probity and accountability should not be seen to patronize the likes of the former governor of Kaduna State. It’s in the public domain that Malam Nasir El-Rufai is facing prosecution of N32 billion in Court.
Also, the former governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is facing rejection over his dirty past involving dollar bribe and what is good for Ganduje should be good for El-Rufai. We hope that President Tinubu will come out clean on El-Rufai issue, while we hope that he should not allow Nigerians to hit the streets before doing the right thing.
The group further called on the EFCC and other anti-graft agencies to rise to the occasion of prosecuting former and incumbent public officers who have pending cases, so that their actions would not be misinterpreted as selected prosecution of corrupt officials of government.