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Nigeria: Calls for Obasanjo's Trial Swell
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Leadership (Abuja)
9 May 2008
Posted to the web 9 May 2008
Chuks Ohuegbe
Calls for the trial of former President Olusegun Obasanjo over alleged corrupt practices swelled across the nation yesterday as different rallies were organised in Abuja and Kaduna by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Coalition of Northern Nigeria Civil Society Organisations, calling on President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to prosecute Obasanjo and his daughter, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly yesterday vowed to go to the root of the ongoing probes and to bring all the culprits to book - assuring that this time the probes would not be business as usual in which reports are swept under the carpet.
Senate president David Mark, who was represented by the chairman of the Senate Committee on Labour, Senator Wilson Ake, gave this assurance when a large crowd of protesters led by the leadership of the NLC, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and civil society organisations stormed the National Assembly demanding the prosecution of Iyabo, who is involved in the N300 million ministry of Health scam and requesting the National Assembly not to allow the reports of the ongoing probes in the National Assembly end up like previous ones.
"We are committed to ensure that the probes do not end up like others in the past. We will ensure that all culprits are brought to book," Mark assured.
The Senate president, who praised the labour unions and civil society organisations for their courage, said it was gratifying for them to join the National Assembly in the fight against corruption and that their action was an encouragement to them to be steadfast.
Rather than being a distraction as the presidency was quoted to have said, Mark said in the probes, the National Assembly wanted to ensure that the condition of the country was reversed and that they had been transparent in all the probes as they have all been done in the open.
Also, speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, was represented by the chariman of the House on Labour, Hon. Ado Dogo Audu. Bankole corroborated Mark's statement and added that the law was superior to any individual and that they would do everything to follow the probes to their logical conclusions and ensure that all those found wanting were prosecuted.
Former president of the NLC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who was in attendance requested for the prosecution of Iyabo .
"There was a national broadcast (referring to former president Obasanjo on former Senate president Wabara), today where is Iyabo? Whatever happened to Wabara must happen to Iyabo.
"Senator Wabara was removed from office due to his involvement in a bribe scandal in the Ministry of Education involving the then minister. Iyabo, daughter of former president Olusegun Obasanjo and chairman, Senate Committee on Health, has also been involved in the sharing of the N300 million unspent Ministry of Health funds from the 2007 budget," he said.
Oshiomhole also overtly demanded the probing of Obasanjo when he said, "We are sending messages to tenants in power that if they do not account when in power, they will account when they are out of power. Time does not run out of the people, let the past leaders account now."
Earlier, Comrade Abduwaheed Omar, president of the NLC, had told the federal legislators that they were on a solidarity visit to them because they took it upon themselves to probe corruption.
He said the $16 billion expended on the power sector by Obasanjo must be properly accounted for. He said Obasanjo promised to turn the power situation around in six months, only to squander $16 billion and leave Nigerians in despair and deeper darkness after eight years. From investigations, only 5% of the said amount was used for the sector, he stressed.
Urging the National Assembly, Omar said, "it must not stop in probes. Probes and revelations are not enough, we are demanding the constitution of a judicial commission of inquiry so that all the culprits can be brought to book."
He said it was only when the culprits were brought to book that we could get safe air space, running water in our homes, electricity and so on.
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Addressing hundreds of demonstrators, the coalition's spokesperson, Comrade Shehu Sani, said: "We are here today as an opposition against the refusal of the present government to bring Obasanjo and members of his cabinet to book for their stewardship in office from 1999 to 2007."
He said, "Obasanjo's regime was the most corrupt regime in the history of Nigeria," adding, "Our country had never had it so good economically, we had the best of prices of petroleum in the international market, but it has not reflected in the quality of lives of ordinary Nigerians."
The coalition said that there was corruption under every phase of the last administration, from the top to the lowest level, and as such appealed to Nigerians to rise and demand that Obasanjo be brought to justice.
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I AM SO HAPPY NIGERIANS HAS FINALLY WAKEN-UP, I THANK GOD FOR THIS, THOUGH AFTER 48 YEARS.I THANK THE SENATORS, YOU AND ALL GOOD NIGERIANS WHO HAVE TAKEN UP THIS NOBLE FIGHT. BUT DOES IT END THERE? HOW DO WE MAKE THEM PAY FOR THERE CRIMES? HOW DO WE STOP FUTURE OCCURENCES? HAS DEMOCRACY COME TO STAY? NIGERIANS HAS MANY QUESTIONS TO ASK. PLEASE LET THE PROBE COMMITTEE AND THOSE CONCERNED KNOW THAT DELAY IS DANGEROUS. A CONCERNED NIGERIA IN EUROPE
Maybe we need new leadership from top to bottom in this country. How can the current leaders be promising things when another web blog,...www.businessjeeves.com is calling all the so-called good guys as being involved in scams too! when does it stop in this country
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