THE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to withdraw his nominee for the headship of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Francis Ugochukwu Elechi, “if indeed he is serious about fighting corruption in the country.”

In a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said, “in the event that the President fails to heed the call to drop Mr. Elechi, the Senate should reject his nomination, in the interest of the nation.”

The ACN claimed that “it is common knowledge that Mr. Elechi is a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and a close associate of several stalwarts of the party, including Gov. Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers, who apparently pushed his nomination.”

It wondered whether “President Jonathan is aware that Mr. Elechi previously served as a member of the PDP National Committee that reviewed the report of the Alex Ekwueme Reconciliation Committee; served on the Amaechi’s Economic Advisory Committee in 2007 and attempted to contest the PDP primaries for the Ikwerre/Emuoha Federal Constituency seat in December 2002, on the platform of the PDP, before he was advised by his friend, Amaechi, to step down for Hon. Andrew Uchendu.”

The party said while Elechi “has the right to hold any public office in spite of his political affiliation, it is morally unjustifiable to appoint him as the head of the ICPC, which may have cause to probe members of his party which, as the ruling party, has the highest number of political office holders, hence may constitute a proportionate number of those who may be investigated by the commission.”

Mohammed added: “Mr. President may want to reward his supporters in the last election by offering them key posts in his administration.

But appointing a known PDP member into a body strategically placed at the centre of the country’s epic battle against corruption is to show his lack of commitment to the anti-corruption fight.

“We have waited this long, since the nomination was announced in May, because we thought President Jonathan will come to realise that his nominee cannot advance the fight against corruption because he comes with a lot of baggage in view of his political affiliation.

“We do not want to believe the insinuations in certain circles that the President’s motive in appointing his party man into the ICPC is to water down the fight against corruption. What we believe is that the President did not carry out a thorough investigation before forwarding the name of Mr. Elechi to the Senate for confirmation.

“We are therefore compelled to ask him to withdraw the nomination without delay, and replace Mr. Elechi with a nominee who is non-partisan and who possesses the moral strength to combat corruption, without worrying about his/her political associates.”

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