The last appears not to have been heard on the operation of foreign accounts charges levelled against Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu while in office as Lagos State governor by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) as Tinubu is threatening to seek redress.

The charges weer last week dismissed by the Code of Conduct Tribunal on the grounds that the charges lacked substance.

Tinubu, formally reacting to the acquittal, yesterday, said he would “seek further redress because of the injury caused by my reputation and inflicted on my businesses and family”.

In a statement by the national leader of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), he maintained that his anger lingered over the non-full disclosure of the alleged bank accounts and other details relating to the charges by the government in an effort to portray and falsely classify him as a money launderer and looter of public funds. “Where and when are the transactions in these accounts operated? What are the balances in each of these accounts? What is the ageing analysis of those balances and their sources if any?, Tinubu queried. “The government prosecutors and some of their political leaders in their media campaign listed these accounts and made spurious allegations making it seem as if I looted public funds and stashed it away in these accounts. Yet they have failed to provide evidence to prove these weighty, yet unfounded allegations, which shows clearly at the tribunal that this was a political persecution from the very beginning”, he said.

‘Political vendetta’

He went on: “The government and its lawyers in their handling of this case have revealed a crass lack of knowledge of financial rules at home and abroad thus, embarrassing me as a citizen, their own government and the country”. The ACN leader stated that wasting millions of public funds to prosecute a political vendetta is unjustifiable and failing to apply both the principle and doctrine of materiality; cost and benefit analysis in investigation and prosecution of the case questionable. “I feel ashamed that the government is using a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, and a costly team of attorneys to prosecute this case, thereby demonstrating lack of policy direction to develop and train hundreds of lawyers in the Ministry of Justice and office of the public prosecutor. I dare ask, what is the aim of outsourcing a case like this to outside lawyers with huge professional bills?.

“The government equally failed to employ the FOI to disclose to Nigerians how much are in these accounts and how much the government was expending to prosecute.

“I am still in consultation with my attorneys on the next plan of action. The long time of media trial and political persecution have had toll on my businesses, my political reputation and constituted an infringement of my rights and that of my family as Nigerian citizens”.

It is only a wicked system that will list minors and portray them as looters for having in their accounts amounts in the hundreds meant for their upkeep and school runs”.

Tinubu believed that the battle for the salvation of Nigeria has just begun and he is willing and “ready to join hands with all like-minded people to move Nigeria forward as a land of democracy for justice and a secured democracy”.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/12/fall-out-of-trial-tinubu-threatens-to-sue-fg/