The last may not have been heard on the controversial Gulf War oil windfall that accrued to the country 15 years ago, during the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd.), as Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), has asked the Federal Government to make public the Pius Okigbo Report on the matter.
Speaking in Abuja at a seminar on economic crimes, organised by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Fawehinmi called on the anti-graft agency to revisit the Okigbo Report on the 1991 Gulf War oil windfall to enable Nigerians know what happened to the alleged $12 billion revenue earned by the country during the period.
According to Fawehinmi, EFCC owes Nigerians a duty to prevent the emergence of a corrupt leadership in 2007, even as he pleaded for internal vigilance and external support to ensure that those who take power next year do not scrap the agency.
He commended EFCC's effort in the war on corruption, noting that its achievements in the past three years, as evidenced by record arrests, prosecutions and convictions were unprecedented.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) informed participants that he has vowed never to accept a brief that is against the Commission.
Also speaking at the seminar, Chairman, West African Bar Association (WABA), Mr. Femi Falana, who spoke on “Executive Immunity and the Fight Against Corruption”, also echoed the vow.
"We have lost millions in our association with Ribadu. We took separate decisions never to take up matters against EFCC", Falana said.
Falana further revealed it was on account of the great respect they have for EFCC Chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, that Professor Wole Soyinka flew in from California, United States, while Gani had to cut short his trip abroad for medical check up to be part of the seminar. He vowed that no amount of blackmail would stop progressive elements from assisting EFCC.
In his presentation, Falana observed that the immunity clause of the 1999 Constitution has been grossly abused and called on President Olusegun Obasanjo to move for the review of section 308 of the Constitution.
According to him, the review is necessary as it was inequitable for the political executives to be shielded from civil and criminal prosecution while at the same time enjoying the power to sue others.
Notwithstanding the well-known limitations of section 308, Falana informed participants that Section 308(2) of the Constitution allows state governors, for instance, to be subjected to criminal and civil proceedings in a case where they are nominal parties.
He commended the EFCC for adopting the strategy of prosecuting public officials who assist those who enjoy immunity to loot their state treasuries.
He also expressed hope that the Code of Conduct Bureau would become more proactive in dealing with issues of assets declaration by public officers while reasoning that there was no need asking people to declare their assets if such information are not going to be made available to the public.
“Any government that is prepared to combat the menace of corruption has to abolish the Official Secrets Act, enact the Freedom of Information Bill into law and compel public disclosure of all assets declaration forms in the custody of the Code of Conduct Bureau”, he declared.
Earlier, Mr. Jonathan Rusch, Special Counsel for Fraud Prevention in the US State Department averred that “Nigeria should not be treated as a nation of criminals.”
He made the declaration while responding to questions after delivering a paper entitled, “Money Laundering Schemes and the Emerging Trends of Identity Theft.”
He said organised criminal gangs exist in many nations of the world and that it was wrong to label all Nigerians as criminals.
He noted the danger which identity fraud and money laundering pose to the world and called for a multilateral strategy to combat the problem.
