Fraud: Sirika, Sadiya Farouq, Other Buhari Ministers Tinubu Must Probe, Arrest
Fraud: Sirika, Sadiya Farouq, Other Buhari Ministers Tinubu Must Probe, Arrest
In the twilight of Former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu said the outgoing President was above scandal and did not operate any bank account stashed with proceeds of corruption.
The same, however, cannot be said of some of the cabinet members who served in the administration with allegations of misappropriation of public funds and other corrupt practices hovering around their neck.
Civil society organisations and anti-corruption campaigners have, however, asked President Bola Tinubu to beam a searchlight on some ministries and the former ministers.
Top on the list is the former minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Farouq; former Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami; former minister of aviation, Hadi Sirika; and the former minister of finance Ahmed Zainab.
Chairman of the Nigeria Accountability Rights Initiative (NARI), Solomon Adamu,while calling for the probe and arrest of these ministers, stated that it has to be done with expediency as some of the former ministers may leave the country to evade probe.
“We have cases of many ministers who have either been accused of corruption or indicted but the President turned a blind eye. This is not good for a democracy like ours. We, as a group, will like to point the attention of the President to some of these cases that are of interest to Nigerians. It is our hope that he would look into it.”
“The Humanitarian Affairs Minister and Minister of Finance still have questions to answer on the multi-billion naira feeding scheme and other social intervention programmes,” Adamu added.
Anti-corruption groups, in 2022, submitted corruption allegations against the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami to former President Muhammadu Buhari, which he refused to act on.”
Amongst other allegations of impropriety, Malami was accused of auctioning sea vessels holding crude oil seized by the Federal Government, in violation of Section 31(2) and (4) of the EFCC Act 2004.
“The AGF also authorized the sale of these vessels by companies under EFCC prosecution for similar offence of illegal bunkering and this action was admitted by the AGF through his media aide pleading presumption of innocence on the part of the accused, in the case being prosecuted by the Federal Government through EFCC,” Adamu stated.
Another anti-corruption advocate, Adebayo Bello,pointed out that the President must arrest and probe the former minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika over the ‘fraudulent’ launch of the controversial national carrier, Nigeria Air.
The Lagos-based lawyer said Sirika, having spent billions of naira, launched a national carrier that was yet to get the necessary approval. Likewise, the allegations of Sirika spending billions of naira on the project have prompted the nation’s call on anti-corruption agencies to investigate and arrest him.
The calls for his arrest followed the damning revelation by the Acting Managing Director of Nigeria Air, Captain Dapo Olumide, that the aircraft reportedly brought into the country as belonging to the national carrier was actually a chartered plane from Ethiopian Airlines.
“The billions Hadi Sirika used to chatter the Ethiopian plane and paint it before flying into Nigeria can be used to better the lives of Nigerians. There should be consequences for spending taxpayers money in a fraudulent manner. Do you know how many classrooms blocks or boreholes or healthcare facilities that the money can provide? That’s a lot!” Bello opined.
Source:- Vanguard
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