Falana To Okonjo-Iweala: Hold To Your Account Of Service Appalling.
Human rights
lawyer, Femi Falana yesterday said he is not perturbed by the attack on him by
former finance minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala over his petition to the
Special Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
According to
Falana, his petitions were anchored on law and facts. He noted there was
nothing personal in the ongoing battle to end impunity in governance.
It will be
recalled that the lawyer had in a petition to the ICC, urged it to investigate
what he termed allegations of crimes against humanity committed against the
Nigerian people by former and serving military officials as well as public
officials and private persons who were said to have diverted over $8 bn meant
for the procurement of arms to fight insurgency in Nigeria.
But in her
reaction Dr. Okonjo-Iweala dismissed the Falana, as “a tool of corrupt
elements” whose interests were hurt by her ‘anti-corruption fight’ while she
was in office.
Falana however
described Okonjo-Iweala’s reaction as not unusual as she was always quick to
deflect criticisms by accusing anyone seeking to hold her to account for her
appalling records in government of ulterior political motives.
“When Prof
Chukwuma Soludo alleged that about N30tr could not be accounted for under her
watch he was described as “an embittered loser.’
When comrade
Adams Oshiomole questioned the illegal withdrawal of $2bn from the Excess Crude
Account, he was accused of having animus towards her because she had blocked
Edo State from obtaining a loan,’’ Falana said.
“Therefore,
instead of exchanging vulgar abuse with the former Minister I shall respond to
the diversionary allegations which lacerated her response and the attempt to
extricate herself from the mass looting of the commonwealth under her watch.
“The claim that I
am unfamiliar with the mandate of the ICC shows that Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala has not
been following the practice of the court and its active and robust approach to
its mandates, in particular with regard to the investigation of crimes in
Darfur, the warrant of arrest for Joseph Kony (Uganda), and the warrant of
arrest for Ahmad Harun, (Sudan). In many decided cases, the ICC has expanded
its mandate to humanitarian issues, aimed at forestalling and impeding the
perpetration of crimes which cause gross human rights abuse.
“There is
absolutely nothing in the Rome Statute of the ICC to suggest that the court
cannot address impunity for enormous financial crimes (and its crippling
impact) which took place while Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala was the Finance Minister and
the Coordinating Minister of the economy.
“Dr.
Okonjo-Iweala also claimed that my petition against her to the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) “were lacking in credibility”, without any
substantiation of what this means or specific rebuttal of the allegations
contained in that petition.
“She has however
not denied the accuracy of the claims in my petition. Whereas the former
Finance Minister had insisted that only $500 million was recovered from the
Abacha loot my petition detailed the recovery of $4 billion. As she could not
challenge my claim Dr. Okonjo-Iweala now says that the $500 million was the
amount recovered while she was the Minister of Finance under President
Obasanjo.
“In making that
claim she did not take cognizance of her recent statement that while she gave
out $322 million to Col. Dasuki the sum of $700 million had been set aside for
development. From her own account, over $1 billion was recovered from the loot
under the Jonathan regime when she was coordinating the economy.
“Dr. Okonjo-Iweala
has continued to give the erroneous impression that she rendered selfless
service to the nation. But while her colleagues who served as Ministers under
President Olusegun Obasanjo were paid their salaries and allowances in the
local currency she received hers in dollars despite a judgment of the Court of
Appeal which had declared the payment illegal and unconstitutional in the case
of Fawehinmi v The President (2007) 14 NWLR (Pt 1054) 275.
“In order to weep
up sentiments Dr. Okonjo-Iweala referred to the unfortunate kidnap of her
84-year mother, two years ago. But it is public knowledge that the lumpen
elements involved in the kidnap were arrested by the Lagos State Police
Command. From the report of police investigation the kidnappers were palace
guards who were inspired by sheer avarice. In fact, they were arrested by the
Police following the disagreement over the sharing of the N12 million ransom
paid to them for the criminal enterprise.
“In the
Appropriation Act of 2011, the sum of N245 billion was budgeted for fuel
subsidy. But at the end of the year, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala had authorized the
illegal payment of about N2.5 trillion to a cabal of fuel importers. As usual,
she washed off her hands like Pontius Pilate. In order to unearth the monumental
fraud I petitioned the EFCC and gave oral testimony before the House of
Representatives Committee which separately investigated it.
“In the same
vein, I have just asked the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation under the Freedom of Information Act to provide
information on the failure of the NNPC to pay into the Federation Account the
sum of $9.7 billion out of the $11.8 billion dividends paid by NLNG from
2004-2014.
“I have equally
demanded information from the NEITI over its claim that the NNPC and some oil
companies are indebted to the Federal Government to the tune of $19.1 billion.
“Dr.
Okonjo-Iweala’s claim that I own the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability
Project (SERAP) is far-fetched and laughable. A simple google search would have
shown her that while I am one of the legal advisers of the organization, there
are other very distinguished lawyers and academics of international repute on
SERAP’s board.
“Her claim that
SERAP is ‘discredit’ is the exact opposite of reckless characterization because
it is an organization that has won national and international
recognitions—including nomination for the UN civil society award; the Ford
Foundation Jubilee Transparency Award; and the Wole Soyinka Anti-Corruption
Defender Award.
“It is my belief
that the recovered loot should be channeled towards job creation and
infrastructural development. Therefore, all hands should be on deck to ensure
that the recovered loot is not criminally diverted by another set of looters .
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