Like Minds Senators hindering anti-corruption war –Group

In the wake of the invitation of Mrs. Toyin Saraki, wife of the Senate Pres­ident, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for questioning, a group, Society for Exemplary Leadership and Trans­parency, SELT, has ad­vised The Like Minds not cry wolf over the matter.

The group urged senators in The Like Minds group to have a rethink, in order to avoid becoming clogs in the wheel of the Buhari ad­ministration despite being members of the governing party in the country.

The Abuja-based group gave the advise in a state­ment signed on its behalf by Elder Emmanuel John­son and wondered why the Senators could not see the invitation as one from a legally constituted agency of the state instead of what it described as their “paro­chial angle.”

The NGO said: “It is now clearer than before that this set of Senators are indeed the hindrance to transpar­ent governance promised Nigerians by the APC and they will scuttle legisla­tions and policies designed to enthrone accountability and transparency.”

SELT reminded the Sen­ators that their disposition would have been seen as unselfish if they had also questioned similar invita­tion from EFCC to Hajia Zainab Dakingari, daughter of former President Umaru Yar’Adua and wife of for­mer Kebbi State Governor, Saidu Dakingari.

“In view of this, we has­ten to ask: why were you silent and did not mention ‘political motivation’ when recently other former state governors such as Mur­tala Nyako (Adamawa) and Sule Lamido (Jigawa) were invited to account for their years in office,” the group queried.

On the surprise ex­pressed by The Like-Minds that the invitation of Mrs Saraki came five years after her husband left the Gov­ernment House, the state­ment noted that “corrup­tion could be perpetrated in and out of government while the malfeasance is gender neutral and we know as matter of fact and law that investigation into any alleged corruption is not statute barred,” and cit­ed the cases of former Gov­ernor Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State and former Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State, both of who were re­cently arraigned by EFCC, and had also been gover­nors at the time the Senate President was the Kwara State chief executive.

SELT called on The Like Minds to desist from cir­cumventing efforts of the current administration to recover public funds that may be in the hands of for­mer public office holders, their family members and friends as nobody is above the law.