Igbo Elders’ Council faults Buhari on probe

…it’s unjust to focus on Jonathan alone —Prof. Nwabueze

CHIKA NWABUEZE

The Igbo Leaders of Thought, one of the organs of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has voiced its opposition to the idea of limiting the ongoing corruption probe to the immediate past administration led by former President Goodluck Jonathan. According to the group, investigating only Jonathan’s administration, when there are other past administrations equally corrupt will not stop corruption or achieve the purpose.
Professor Ben Nwabueze, in a statement issued on behalf of the Igbo Leaders of Thought argued that it is selective, adding that selective probe has the appearance of a vendetta aimed mainly at denigrating or demonizing individuals. “It discredits the exercise, and deprives it of public confidence. The people must be made to believe in the genuineness and sincerity of the exercise if they are to give up the entrenched culture of corruption.

 
“This is the factor that robbed the so called war against corruption under the Obasanjo administration of all credibility and effectiveness, Nwabueze said. The constitutional lawyer submitted that “the entire EFCC outfit as agency of government and the way it was used by Obasanjo as an instrument for harassment, persecution, victimization and repression of opponents ostensibly for corruption, while his favoured group, the ‘Obasanjo Boys’ were left untouched, needs to be investigated, and the EFCC itself overhauled.
He said that the argument that Jonathan has a duty to have probed the Obasanjo government and that because he failed to do so Buhari has no business going to a government which is not back-to-back with him. “The insincerity of this argument is transparent on its face. It is simply an argument of convenience or expediency, one that completely disregards the compelling need to eradicate corrupt practices.
Prof. Nwabueze stressed that while it is not true that Jonathan took over from Obasanjo, it was Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua that did. He also pointed out that all the previous three administrations were PDP governments, adding that it would seem inconceivable that one PDP government should probe another.
“Yet, the existence of factors precluding Jonathan from probing the Obasanjo administration does not remove the compelling need for such a probe. For the PDP, as a ruling party for 16 years, was a government characterized by so much evil, including corrupt practices and impunity, which reached their zenith during the eight years of Obasanjo’s rule.
“The country yearned for deliverance, for a change from PDP rule to rule by another party. The change came with the March 2015 presidential election that flushed out the PDP, replacing it with APC as the ruling party. The new APC government owes it as a duty, not only to itself, but also to the constitution and the Nigerian people to probe the corrupt practices that took place during the rule of the PDP administration from which it took over.
He opined that as to how far it should go in probing past administrations, “the limit is set by the facts on the ground and by the magnitude and enormity of corrupt practices during each of the successive administrations that is within common knowledge.
According to the Igbo Leaders of Thought, selective probe is unfair, and unjust. It is contrary to the constitution of Nigeria. It offends against justice to probe the Jonathan administration, and not other past administrations equally or nearly as corrupt, as and perhaps even more corrupt than, his.
Nwabueze maintained that probing past administrations beside Jonathan’s is not a distraction, as the Presidency says. “Another reason why a probe is necessary and demanded is that eradication of corruption will enable Nigeria to make a new beginning, which is an imperative necessity if the slide to state failure is to be halted.
“A new beginning cannot be launched, nor can corruption be eradicated by probing just the Jonathan administration. It requires more radical action, he insists.