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Nigeria: Iyabo-Obasanjo Lawless, Says EFCC
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Vanguard (Lagos)
29 April 2008
Posted to the web 29 April 2008
Ise-Oluwa Ige
THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), yesterday, in Abuja described Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello as "an opportunist lawmaker" with no regard for the law of the land and the constitution.
Besides, the commission told the Federal High Court, Abuja that the senator's claim that she never knew that the controversial N10 million she collected from the Federal Ministry of Health was stolen, was far from the truth.
This followed her failure, for the umpteenth time, to appear before the court which is handling the trial of those involved in the N300 million unspent budget scam in the Federal Ministry of Health.
The EFCC prosecutor, Mr James Binang, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that "if Obasanjo-Bello is law-abiding, she ought to have been here. It is over three weeks since this trial commenced, she has refused to show up and she is using the apparatus of government to evade arrest.
"We are making all efforts to arrest her. Our men are on her trail to effect her arrest and bring her to court," he said.
According to the EFCC, the idea of expending the fund, now a subject of litigation, on a trip to Ghana was an afterthought "as there is no official correspondence between the Federal Ministry of Health and the National Assembly concerning the release of the funds for the Ghana trip."
The commission, in a paper filed in court, said the charge preferred against her was competent in law and that nothing ought to stop her from appearing before the court to defend herself of the allegation if at all she had any.
Citing four separate grounds to justify its position, the EFCC said Senator Obasanjo-Bello's objection to her trial could not stand because "there is a motion on notice by it seeking to amend the charge to include her name for the purpose of taking her trial as the 12th accused person in the case; that section 153 of the CPC provides that every accused person shall be present in court during the whole of his\her trial; that the notice of preliminary objection filed by her was incompetent, premature and constitutes a gross abuse of the court's process."
The commission said her application to frustrate her trial was only a pointer to the fact that she had something to hide.
The commission's lead counsel, Mr James Binang, said he knew that there was no way she could wriggle out of the criminal charge preferred against her.
Iyabo knew money was stolen -EFCC
In a counter-affidavit to the application by the senator objecting to her trial, the EFCC said "Iyabo was entirely on her own and had complete dominion over expenditure of the said N10 million to the exclusion of other members.
"In the course of the investigation in February and early March 2008, Iyabo was promptly notified by the agents of the EFCC investigating the fraud in the Health Ministry that the source of the money in her possession was fraudulent and was being investigated.
The agents of the EFCC in the course of the investigation also requested both Committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate on Health to return the money to the Federal Ministry of Health"
"While the House Committee returned theirs, the Senate Committee presided over by Iyabo bluntly refused to return the stolen money to the Federal Ministry of Health.
The idea of expending the money in late March 2008 on a trip to Ghana was an afterthought. There is no official correspondence between the Federal Ministry of Health and the National Assembly concerning the release of the funds for the Ghana trip," the commission said yesterday.
She had, last week, declared that she would not submit herself to the EFCC for arrest and prosecution over allegation of stealing a total N10 million belonging to the Federal Government until a competent law court ruled that she has a case to answer.
She said from all indications, EFCC was not really interested in prosecuting her for whatever offence she was alleged to have committed but simply interested in disgracing her.
Money paid to Senate, says Iyabo
She said the controversial N10 million she was alleged to have stolen was paid to the Senate by the Federal Ministry of Health and not to her.
Speaking through her counsel, Mr Bankole Akomolafe of Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) Chambers, she said: "The Ministry of Health paid N10 million to the Senate and not to Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello. The sum of N10 million was paid to the Senate Committee on Health by the Senate to cover the retreat for the study of a bill.
The money was never meant for Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello but for the organisation and members of the Committee on Health who participated in the retreat. The money was spent by the Committee for the purpose for which the Ministry of Health meant it.
As a matter of fact, it was the Secretary of the Senate Committee on Health that paid the expenses of the Committee. All the expenses were duly receipted."
On the above facts, it was not true that Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello stole N10 million from Ministry of Health as alleged in the charge. It was also not true that she retained or pocketed N10 million belonging to the Federal Government.
Iyabo Obasanjo had also written a letter to the Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Michael Aondoakaa (SAN), begging him to prevail on the commission to toe the path of rule of law by allowing her to be until the court decides her application challenging the competence of the charge preferred against her.
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She has also written two letters to the President of the Senate, Chief David Mark, and the acting Chairman of the EFCC to protest what she called her harassment by the EFCC's operatives.
Look we share the frustration of the EFCC but they are not doing enough to arrest Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello. The one million dollar question, If Iyabo had been Eze Njoku or Tonye Douglas do we think that the out come would been the same of course Hell No. I am not accusing EFCC of compromising their stand but showing a soft spot because this lawless international criminal junta is the daughter of the former Ex-President that he has nothing to write home about.
Iyabo's charges are multi-faceted; Accessed of Stolen Money to the tone of 10 million Naira (2) Evading Arrest,... [Read Full Text]
You are right my brother but remember that Baba Iyabo reluctantly put together EFCC not because he wanted to fight corruption in Nigeria but because he was forced to do so by the West in order for them to forgive our debt. But Mr. President used it against his political enemies. Iyabo knew exactly what she was doing before the said money was spent. She knew that if it is uncovered, that the case is not going anywhere afterall Nigeria's money is there for the taking. She was well aware of the law and knew that members of both... [Read Full Text]
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