posted
At first, it looked like a straight forward case of bribery or solicitation to bribe. Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai alleged that BiafraNigerian Senators asked him for money before he could be cleared as a ministerial nominee. Unlike other "whistle blowers" El-Rufai named names : Senator Mantu, Senator Zwingina, more. Quickly, it looked like those two senators were about to fall and other heads were about to roll.
Ha! Naija magic happened. Says the Guardian: "On his way to the Senate hearing, his appearance was almost derailed by a forged letter claiming that he had withdrawn the accusation." It was all downhill from there. Now, El-Rufai looks like he should be pitied. Can that country ever get anything right?
Posts: 90 | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
When una get amugbo people and yeye de smell for gofment, wetin u expect say go happen? And when i come be soldier go soldier come na im be say eferytin go dabaru. Fela talk am say "Everything Scather" na im we dey see so oh.
Abo mi reo!
___________________ NA MY PAPA BORN ME Posts: 389 | From: Eugene, Oregon | Registered: Jul 2002
| IP: Logged
posted
And this are the same senators who conspired to remove Okadigbo with Ghana must go bags of money provided by Obasabjo. What happened to Obasanjos fight against corruption. What you expect when #1 man is so corrupt.
I was equally disappointed over the way this incident had played out.
When the news of how El-Rufai leaked to the Press that some senators demanded for a huge bribe for his nomination as the Minister for the FCT, I was among the many that clamored that he disclose the identity of these senators. I was wary of a situation where an allegation of this magnitude would be given the familiar PDP in-house treatment. I did not want to see this buried under bureaucratic red tape or settled as a PDP family affair.
While El-Rufai delayed (he must have been building up his case then), I conveniently assumed that he must either have been settled by the top guns or that he was just a noisy whistleblower that later realized the folly of trying to challenge or change the corrupt status quo. So, just like scores of other issues on which the present administration and its state and local subsidiaries had woefully failed to address, redress or ameliorate, I resigned myself to the conclusion that this issue would be another non-starter.
The calls for El-Ruffai to divulge the names of these senators grew louder however, that at last, he was given an opportunity in a senate hearing to present the case that he must have all the while been preparing.
And then every thing goes downhill from there...
Breezing in to the senate floor with a retinue of bodyguards alleging that threats were made on his life and swearing on the Quran, El-Rufai proceeded to expose NOTHING! He made a long winded speech extolling the senators and massaging the egos of Nigerians by appealing to our primordial instincts on the issue. When the rubber met the road eventually, he had NO evidence to back up his accusations. He told us that God was the sole witness to the events that transpired between himself, Mantu and Zwingina. So, because the Senate could not order God down to come and testify the case was dismissed!
I find it very perplexing that Rufai that would make accusations of this magnitude without some form of evidence. Mantu and Zwingina may or may not be guilty, but Rufai seriously bungled things.
He is headed for the ICPC now that the senate is done with the issue. Let’s hope that this time, he will provide some evidence with which to nail these senators. It is not enough to throw accusations around. Even if Mantu and Zwingina were truly guilty, the law operates on a principle that they are to be assumed innocent until proven guilty. And this would depend largely upon the INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE that Rufai brings to bear on the whole legal process.
Two things---either that Rufai is basking in the national limelight cast upon him by this issue or by his inability to provide EVIDENCE, he is unwittingly helping some corrupt officials to escape the long punitive arms of the law. I wonder if there are other circumstances surrounding this case that are not obvious just yet.
Topic Closed
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
