Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana, on Saturday, called for the urgent trial of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and other Nigerians named in the Halliburton scandal, saying their prosecution would remove the dent which the issue had left on the image of the country.
Falana stated this in Lagos while delivering a lecture, ‘‘Civil society and the challenges of anti-corruption struggle in Nigeria‘‘ at the 50th birthday ceremony of the chairman of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, Mr. Debo Adeniran.
He said, ‘‘Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, one of the three ex-Heads of State alleged to have received part of the $180m bribe is a leading adviser to the Goodluck Jonathan administration. He and some of the other suspects have not been interrogated. Yet, all the foreign officials indicted in the Halliburton scandal, Willbros and Daimler AG have been convicted by district courts in the United States, while they have paid fines of not less than $1b to the US Government via plea bargaining for bribing Nigerian officials. Those who have used their privileged positions to smear the image of the country should be rounded up and charged to court without any further delay.‘‘
Falana added that Nigerians deserved explanations on what happened to the accrued oil revenue of $12.4b which ‘got missing‘ during the regime of the despot, Ibrahim Babangida, remarking that every patriotic Nigerian would expect accountability for the oil money.
Also, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mrs. Farida Waziri who spoke through the commission‘s head of Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Babafemi, pledged the agency‘s commitment to ensuring corruption-free Nigeria.
Speaking, the National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere Renewal Group, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, lamented that some of those who fought for the enthronement of democracy in the country had abandoned the struggle even as he urged CACOL to remain firm in its resolve to demand the right thing at all times.
Source: Punch
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