The president made some notable comments about monitoring allowances yesterday and promised that he will net let Nigerians down. But I will like to ask if he wasnt the president when the allowance of the house during the last regime in the house was passed into budget? Maybe it was OK then, but not anymore.

Not that a party member can not lead ICPC, but in a country where corruption had such a strong grip on the polity, it will not make sense when the leader of anti-corruption crusade is perceived as partisan.

The Action Congress of Nigeria has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to “immediately” withdraw the nomination of Mr. Francis Elechi, as the Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission.

The party said this should be done if Jonathan was serious about fighting corruption in the country.

The ACN alleged that the nominee was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party and a close associate of its members. It also urged the Senate to reject Elechi’s nomination in the interest of the nation.

The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Lagos on Sunday, said, “It is common knowledge that Elechi is a member of the PDP and a close associate of several stalwarts of the party, including Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, who apparently pushed his nomination.

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

The ACN asked if the President was aware that Elechi once served as a member of the PDP National Committee, which reviewed the White Paper of the Alex Ekwueme Reconciliation Committee.

The party also noted that the nominee served on Amaechi’s Economic Advisory Committee in 2007.

According to the ACN, the nominee attempted to contest the PDP primaries for the Ikwerre/Emuoha Federal Constituency seat in December 2002, “but was advised by his friend, Amaechi, to step down for Andrew Uchendu.”

It added that even though Elechi had the legal right to hold any public office, it was morally unjustifiable to appoint him as the head of the ICPC.

The ACN noted that the PDP as the ruling party, had the highest number of public office holders, stressing that as a result, it might constitute a proportionate number of those who might be investigated.

The party said, “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.”

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20110711324125

Having run EFCC to a state of incompetency, the president wants to appoint a politician to lead ICPC.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20110711324125

I hope Bankole has appeased the gods of Nigerian politics. Silly people silly games. The country is going under waters, I guess we need a bigger umbrella.

I am not sure there is anything tribal about the report. If it is true, I guess there is something more to do with respect to war on corruption. If we don't know how much you are worth now, it will be difficult to estimate how much you looted.

With the current wave of corruption in the country and the perception that EFCC is rather a political tool, how best can the commission be fixed? Who can lead it effectively and build an incorruptible EFCC?

Is EFCC really dead or they are not actually after corrupt people. Anyway, this people are actually legally corrupt, I guess we need to redefine the role of the legislators in our governance and properly define their expenses within firm bounds. That way, the next time EFCC is after a legislator we will be sure it doesnt have any personal undertone. God help Nigeria, cos the situation is just too complex.

Fixing Nigeria has a lot to do with fixing EFCC. It requires passionate and fearless leadership that will defile its use as a tool for publicity, politics and vendetta for which it seemed to have been invented.

Obasanjo also gave a sermon about EFCC.

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-704000.0.html#msg8632373

I always like listening to him. He makes me "laugh". LOL

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201106290173614

I have read with keen interest the vituperation being poured from different quarters on the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, on the statement credited to him in respect of the failure of Nigerian leaders in the war against graft. A recent editorial of THE PUNCH, my favourite daily for credible news reports, was not an exception on the subject matter.

While I am not a spokesperson for Obasanjo nor one of his fans, I will like to point out here that the reactions to his statement appear misplaced and uncalled for, begging for meaning because they did not address the issue of failure by successive governments in fighting corruption in our country. As much as we know that Obasanjo cannot exonerate himself from the evil of corruption, his efforts to fight the scourge via the establishment of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other related offences Commission remain a landmark in the anal of Nigerian history.

We have heard many people saying that the two institutions were established and used by his regime to hoard his political opponents and engaged in selective fight against corruption. But the question is, what efforts have been made by his successors to even use the anti-graft machineries to fight corruption even against their own corrupt opponents after the exit of OBJ from office?

The problem with some Nigerians generally is that we love to join the bandwagon in our criticism of our past leaders, especially those who are less popular with the general masses. But it is instructive to note that it remains a common knowledge that the administration of the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua used state power to protect a former governor of Delta State, James Ibori from prosecution. There were many others who enjoy state protection and were shielded from accounting for their crime against the nation simply because they are friends to the powers-that-be, whatever that means.

Since President Goodluck Jonathan assumed power first as the acting president and then president, it is my own opinion, corroborated with various reported cases of corruption by politicians and top government officials, that Mr. President has not demonstrated the will to curb the scourge in whatever way. We can all recall the period that preceded his election when the savings from the excess crude account were reportedly depleted to curry the favour of state governors so as to secure nomination as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.

While I will fault no one for accusing Obasanjo himself of corruption while in office, but I think the right thing to do is for people to push for his prosecution and provide all evidence they can lay their hands on rather than engaging in armchair criticism of his past deeds without showing any commitment to follow through. While it is convenient and seems fashionable to criticise the man, a number of us “love to hate” due to his controversial nature, none of the critics of Obasanjo has been able to debunk the fact that his successors in office haven’t been able to muster the will to persist in the war against corruption. None has been able to refute the claim that neither Yar’Adua or Jonathan has shown “persistency and consistency” in their fight against corruption nor that those who “are involved in corruption in Nigeria are strongly entrenched.”

Again, the fact that the former president has not been brought to book in spite of the arrays of “evidence” and long list of accusations against him equally proved his claim that his successors are lacking in the political will to fight corruption.

Nigerians at all levels should learn to desist from playing to the gallery on important issues of national interest and should rather concentrate efforts on how to resolve the protracted problems facing our dear country.

The present government should rise up to the challenge and show that it possesses the right political will and determination to strengthen the war against corruption and rescue the country from the grip of economic looters. We should also join hands with the government to ensure that those who hold the reign of power use it judiciously to uplift the living standards of the common man.

The only way to refute Obasanjo’s claims is for the government to vigorously enact legislations and policies that will reduce the scourge of corruption in our public and private lives to the barest minimum. A situation where the outcome of every corruption case is predetermined given the experience of the past is a wrong signal to Nigeria and the outside world. Let President Jonathan wield the big stick against corruption now if, as I believe, he has the political will and moral standing to do so. This way, the likes of Obasanjo will be silenced or made to eat their words.

-Mayowa, an international business journalist and editor, wrote in from Plot 8, Journalists Estate, Arepo, Ogun State, vide daremayo@yahoo.com

Who is Dino Maleye? Hasnt he gotten enough attention?

Everyone who took from the proceeds of "illegality" knowingly should pay for it.

Not to talk of collecting, willingling. What happens to aiding and abetting?

@Sagamite are you saying it is legit to collect from the proceeds of illegality, and you wont have a case to answer? I dont think so, beacuse I know that you are not supposed to buy stolen goods.

Nigeria is a crazy country, I knew this is going to happen, how can you compare the president to a local government chairman and get away with it. EFCC should be scraped, if all it does is go after people who have personal issues with presidency. How are they different from the Abacha's Strike Force?

WisdomV:

Interesting! Did any of them do this? None I guess, else, the case would have been blown open since and it the execution could have been prevented. Hence, if anyone is guilty, there would actually be 39 of them. And they should be called on to start answering questions, right?

I am not sure, but when the commitee presented their conclusions to the house, did anyone do the honourable thing and say "no, that will be to much for me and my constituency, please count me out of this 'illegality'". In my opinion, anyone who dint do this is a part of the "illegality"!

Now we are beginning to know how much it cost Nigeria to run the house of representatives, does anyone have genuine figures for the Senate, so we can have a good idea how much the legislature cost the country and we can decide if we really need them. The following questions come to mind:

Is the house of representatives more expensive than the senate?
Will the Senators allow their junior counterparts earn more than them?

We should all rise to defend our country and her resources - that is if we truly care. It is not yet time to point fingers, the constitution has to be reviewed as a matter of urgency. If a three arm government doesnt work, we can surely try something else.

An African proverb said, if you point 1 finger, 3 or 4 are pointing back at you.

WisdomV:

And we need an "executive session" to discuss this further. And proceed to Abuja with one voice! Whose definition do we go with? Bioye's or X-factoria's? Nairalanders please decide.

LOL going by the definition from Wikipedea, we go with Bioye. But some people argue that Wikipedea is not the best source of information. But it is sure better than Sahara Reporters. LOL

Even me I cant understand. And I need a solid proof that this is not how the money go round all the tiers of government.

They said the president knew about it before it was signed, so his salary or allowance must be more than that. In fact, far more.

That will be nice. Balance of power.

Whar are we going to do about this?

Send EFCC there abeg! Well dem go collect there own sha.

may be the efcc who couldnt even get a strong fact to and persecute him

Exactly, we only feel or know as the case may be that he is wrong. But they havent come up with enough fact to convict him obviously.

No one is saying the speaker is not included, can anything happen in the house without his knowledge? So many fact will emerge in the future. But let me ask, can the members of the lower house earn more than their counterpart in the upper house? Or can they possibly earn more than the president in terms of allowances.

I like to be educated. Did anyone that benefited from the produce alert the police that something terrible is going on? And where are all this people who has tens of millions against their names?

We are still not getting something here, was this Bankole's sole idea and execution, and did any of the members vote against it?

In the case of Bode George, he can singly carry out the act. But in Bankole's case, he needs the majority of the house. We cant compare them, i guess.

Sagamite:

I will like to understand the legal basis that allows a Legislative arm to obtain a loan (that bares interest) beyond the allocations due to the arm.

So basically, the house can vote for $50m yacht and a Hampshire flat for each member and the Speaker can borrow money and go and buy and say "he did nothing wrong"?

Funny enough in Nigeria, that is how I guess it is for as long as the house voted for it. We should scrap the whole legislature nonsense.

Could it be that the presidency never knew about the loan until it got in to the news? If that is the case, then we dont have a working presidency.

Could it be that the presidency knew of it but couldnt do anything within legal limits to stop it? If that is the case, does it mean that there were no other legal means to stop it? Which would mean that as at that time the activities of the speaker was legitimate. I am sure there were several sittings at the house to get them to approve the loan and the reasons for the loan, and no one can tell me that all of this happened behind close doors until now!

Please let us talk about the way forward. i.e. preventing such scenarios in the future because for now, reasonably the actions were taken with the bounds of what we have as a legal system and codes of conduct. That may be a flaw, though.

If we continue with a system where some people can just allocate money for themselves as they wish there will always be a problem.