CSO: CORRUPTION ALLEGATION AGAINST GOVERNOR BUNI, POLITICALLY MOTIVATED.

Governor Mai Mala-Buni, Acting National Chairman of APC

President of Rights Monitoring Group (a coalition of 45 NGOs) and Permanent Representative of a non-profit organisation, Centre for Convention on Democratic Integrity, (CCDI) to the United Nations, Mr. Olufemi Aduwo, has applauded Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State for his political leadership in handling the affairs of APC as Acting National Chairman. Aduwo made this observation in his interview monitored on Radio France lnternationale last night.

I am not an ardent supporter of APC nor a card holder of PDP.  Governor Buni was underrated when he took over the mantle of the ruling party leadership, under his leadership APC has remained stable and attracted some notable politicians from the main opposition party, we cannot rule out that some who recently defected to APC may be looking for an escape route because of corruption cases they have, this may not be true across.

A political party is like a church where lepers, thieves, people of low and high virtues are all welcome. Nigerians want those who looted the national treasury to be brought to book, regardless of the political party they belong to. For example, Nigerians are waiting to see how the Femi Fani-Kayode fraud case ends before 2023.On the fraud allegation against the governor, from our preliminary findings, it is fabricated falsehood and is being instigated by some APC chieftains for their own selfish reasons. We will come out with a detailed report on the allegations soon. No doubt he must have taken some bold decisions which some chieftains were not comfortable with since he came to the office as the Acting National Chairman.

Since the return to democracy in 1999, the civil society has provided a veritable platform for the Nigerians to query government policies, actions, inactions, and detection of corruption in the public sector. For instance, our organisation and the media exposed the certificate forgery and perjury of the former speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Salisu Buhari in 1999. Also, there was the scandalous questionable past of the former Senate President Evans Enwerem. We also exposed the N268m contract that necessitated the removal of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Patricia Etteh and many other members of the National Assembly.

Our petition against Bola Tinubu to the Code of Conduct Bureau did not start in 2011, we started the investigation in 2007 when he was still the governor of Lagos State. We sent our petition to President Jonathan in 2011 with pressure from foreign governments. The president summoned courage and directed the Code Of Conduct Bureau to arrange him before Code of Conduct Tribunal, unfortunately the Office of Attorney-General of federation frustrated the case and he was discharged and acquitted on a frivolous excuse that the Code of Conduct Bureau did not interrogate him before he was arraigned. Probably he could have been discharged but not acquitted and that was the position of Larmode who was the then EFCC chairman.

We agree with you that the civil society organisations in Nigeria have been ineffective in uncovering corruption in the country, this is due to lack of capacity as well as being partisan.During the tenure of Larmode as EFCC chairman, we partner with the body  and our report made it possible for EFCC to recover the sum of N6 billion. Please note, we didn't demand for any percentage.To reduce corruption, it requires the collective effort of the people and government.

Come the 2023 Presidential election, we are of the view that any tribe regardless of population can be elected president. Trust and political will are the major hallmark qualities Nigerians should look out for. We also also support the call that the presidential candidates should be within 60 and 65 years of age.