Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa, has refuted allegations of his refusal of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s request for approval of 25 witnesses, to witness in the United Kingdom in a suit involving former Delta State governor, James Ibori. The AGF also dismissed insinuations that there is a face off between his office and that of the EFCC.
In a statement by the AGF on Sunday in Abuja, he noted that “there is no truth in the reports that the office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice has refused to approve the request from the EFCC for 25 witnesses to appear as witness in London on Monday (today) in the suit involving former Delta state governor, James Ibori.”
According to him, the report is not only false but baseless, adding that ‘it is the prerogative of any Nigerian to be willing to give evidence or not in any suit anywhere in the country or the world.
“It is the sole fundamental right of Nigerians to decide whether to give evidence or to testify in Nigeria or anywhere in the world, that decision has nothing to do with the office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the Federation, he restated.
Aondoakaa noted that there is a very good working relationship between his office and that of the anti graft commission, especially in the joint efforts to fight corruption in the country.
He noted that the mantra of the President Umaru Yar’Adua’s administration is respect for the rule of law. He added that all hands are on deck to ensure that citizens rights are protected and that Nigerians are not forced to do things against their conscience.
In a swift reaction, the Transition Monitoring Group has called on President Umaru Yar’Adua to call the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Michael Aondoakaa to order over his alleged desperate moves to interfere in the allegation of corruption levelled against former Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori.
The group in a statement by its chairman, Mr. Mashood Erubami and Publicity Secretary, Musa Rafsanjani, said the latest report on Aondoakaa, over his alleged desperate move to stall and impede the metropolitan police from prosecuting Ibori and his associates was unfortunate.
TMG noted that the action of the minister had proved that there was no reprieve yet for the country in terms of corruption.
It said, “It is an open design, to frustrate the trial and chart an odious path for freedom for the charged, a new extra- judicial twist introduced into the case by the minister to save his political friends and career for all times.
“It is once again confirmed that the TMG has been vindicated to have been correct in calling for the removal of the minister as it is now obvious that with ministers like Aondoakaa, the seven-point agenda of the president Umaru Yar’Adua has proven to be empty words,” It added.
The group said that the action of the minister to sit on the request of the EFCC to allow it to help the metropolitan police by releasing the 25 witnesses necessary to prosecute Ibori’s case was the height of corruption.
The action, the group maintained, was capable of casting aspersion on the President’s moral resolve to fight corruption as a cankerworm, which has become synonymous with the image of Nigeria and its leadership, if not immediately checked.
In the same vein, the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), described the AFG’s action as shameful and a desecration of the office of the number one law officer of the country.
In a statement by the groups’s National Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin, the AGF’s conduct peaked recently when he constituted himself to a law court and cleared three ex-governors of money laundry charges. In the process he presented a forged evidence of clearance, which was swiftly disowned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
As if that was not enough, he has been reported to have frustrated the EFCC from cooperating with the London Metropolitan Police in the prosecution of Ibori and associates which opened in London on 21st September, 2007 the statement further read: Unfortunately, Mr. President has continued to bury his head in the sand and thinks because he sees nobody, then nobody is seeing him. But not so, Nigerians can read clearly that a President who ordered security agents to go after bank’s borrowers cannot find his voice now that it is political looters. Does it not worry him that investigations into Siemens and Halliburton bribery scandals have died a natural deaths? The group queried.
ARG therefore called for the immediate sack of Aondoakaa and order the Justice Ministry to co-operate with the Metropolitan Police on the Ibori and associates trial in compliance with the provision of Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement between Nigeria and United Kingdom (UK).
But in a release, Tony Eluemunor, Media Aide to James Ibori, put the makers straight. Citing recent newspapers reports on the alleged trial, he accused the newspapers of misplacing the facts. According to Eluemunor, contrary to reports claiming that the trial would begin on the African Development Fund Inc (AFDI) role in the sale of V-Mobile shares on behalf of some state governments, nothing could be further from the truth as the V-Mobile shares case will not be heard in any court in London on Monday, September 21.
Rather, what comes up in London court on September 21, 2009, that concerns Ibori either closely or remotely is: The preliminary hearings of the old money laundering case which has been on since last year, against some of his associates, he pointed out. This time the defence teams open their accusation of misconduct against the prosecution and this will take weeks as agreed in the pre-trial meeting.
From LUCKY NWANKWERE
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