Juliana Taiwo
19 April 2009
Abuja — Presidential Spokesman, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, yesterday said President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua will not shield anybody found culpable in the Halliburton bribe-for-contract scandal.
Adeniyi, who was reacting to allegations by some prominent Nigerians and groups, including the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), said the government's decision to set up an inter-agencies investigative committee on the Halliburton case was an attempt to cover up some individuals, said government was making contacts from different fronts to get the autentic list of those involved.
Adeniyi said, "Of course, you read names in the newspapers but government cannot rely on names in the newspapers, it has to be the authentic list and that will have to be supplied by the government of the United States. and right now government is working with people from different fronts, the Swiss authorities, the French authorities, and the government of the United States so that we can bring this issue to a closure, once and for all.
"The President will not shield anybody who is culpable in the matter but at the same time the rule of law will prevail. You cannot charge anybody on the basis of speculations. We need the actual facts and that is what we are waiting for and once those facts are available to government then we will prosecute all the people involved.
"I can assure Nigerians that all channels are being explored to get that list to ensure that people who short-changed our country in the conduct of their official duties or in private capacity as lawyers do not escape justice. You have the word of President Yar'Adua that all the people culpable in the Halliburton scandal, no matter how highly placed, will not go unpunished."
The president's spokesman also disclosed that government was already in possession of some documents on the Halliburton matter which he said "exposes the level of perfidy in our system which President Yar'Adua is trying to clean up".
He said, "this is a matter that is being handled with all sense of responsibility by this government.
"On August 29, 2008, for instance, the United States Government filed a 'Motion To Seal' all documents pertaining to the case at the District Court Southern District of Texas, Houston Division. Filed by Mr. Steven Tyrrell, Chief Fraud Section, Criminal Division, United States Department of Justice, the motion states in part: 'The United States, through its undersigned attorney, respectfully requests the Court to enter an order directing the Clerk of the Court to seal the criminal information, summons, this motion to seal, and the accompanying Order Premature disclosure of these records may affect ongoing investigations and negotiations with other potential defendants."
Reading from a document on the case, he continued.
"You can see that even the mere motion to seal was in itself ordered to be sealed by the US government to show you how serious the matter is, especially, when it is clearly stated that investigations and negotiations on the matter are still on. The order was granted by the presiding Magistrate the next day, August 29, 2008."
Also reacting to NBA's allegation that the withdrawal of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar's security was Yar'Adua's way of witch-hunting political opponents, Adeniyi said the NBA President, Rotimi Akeredolu ,spoke for himself and not the NBA.
He called attention to a report by the Police Reform Committee which had come up with a report that out of the total number of 371,800 personnel in the Nigerian police, comprising 21,905 senior officers and 349,895 junior officers, over 100,000 were engaged in personal guard and protective duties.
"The Police Reform Commission in its report said that Nigeria has 371,000 policemen out of this number more than 100,000 are serving as guards, bag carriers, security men, and all kinds of things for some of our big men. I mean no serious nation can allow this to continue. The committee recommended that most of those policemen should be withdrawn. In fact, the day the federal executive council decided this, the president was even away to Katsina and I gathered that it even came under any other business, somebody raised the issue.
"And it is not only the former vice president that was involved, all the former governors most of their security men have been withdrawn. But of course the media managers of the former vice president had to make issue out of it. But I believe that a serious body like an NBA, that is assuming Mr. Akeredolu was speaking for NBA, should cross check facts before talking to the press," Adeniyi said.
He asked: "How do you sustain such a system in which most active officers are used as domestic servants and expect adequate security of life and property for the people?"
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
