Following the denial by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that it cleared former Delta State Governor James Ibori and two others in connection with the Vmobile (now Zain) shares scandal, the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) yesterday said the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federation Chief Michael Andoakaa is a threat to the nation's anti-corruption war and should resign immediately.

Chairman of the group Comrade Moshood Erubami and Publicity Secretary Awwal Musa Rafsanjani said the EFCC's clarification had further exposed Andoakaa as a government official playing the script of some corrupt politicians in the country.

"The fact of the matter is that the letter dated January 12, 2009 which Andoakaa was trying to misuse as a clearance certificate is an ordinary letter calling on the bank to lift an earlier caution placed by the EFCC, on the account of the African Development Funds Inc. no. 011400552, where the commission received on the sales of the shares pending the conclusion of the substantive cases of conspiracy, money laundering, abuse of office, and official corruption.

"From the exchange of correspondences between the EFCC and the bank, it is evident that the EFCC letter ref.no.cr.300/EFCC/ls/eg2/vol.2/266 dated 21/3/2007 was only used to place caution on the account while the other letter dated 12th January 2009 was used to lift the caution. Thus, the TMG expects the minister to know the difference between the purports of the two letters especially as a senior advocate of Nigeria.

"What the EFCC letter sought from the bank was to remove the caution earlier placed on the operation of the account only. There is nowhere in the letter where anybody was cleared of the complicities levied against them in the charges except in the figment of the imagination of the minister. The facts therefore remain that nobody was cleared before Britain requested for the details of the case. TMG therefore urge the minister to submit needed information to Britain without further delay," Erubami said.

He expressed disappointment that a minister of justice would choose to give "false and exaggerated" information to Nigerians and the world, in a case which proof had been placed before a court of competent jurisdiction by the EFCC.

He said, "It is gratifying though and commendable that the EFCC refuses to be blackmailed in this regard, by being forthright to lay the charges at the door step of the accused and declaring Andoakaa's uncalculated defence as a blatant untruth, leaving the accused to expend and frustrate themselves to prove their innocence, albeit, beyond reasonable doubt. Having now been proved that the minister did not tell the truth to the nation in respect of this case,, we call on the Senate to recall the minister and show him the way out for the embarrassment he has caused the nation and for breaking the confidence on which he was confirmed as minister by the senate in the first instance."