A former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode has said the recent looters list released by the Federal Government is incomplete without the names of President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and APC chieftain Bola Tinubu.
The PDP stalwart who served as Director of Media and Publicity of the Jonathan Campaign Organisation, also accused Minister of Works Power and Housing Babatunde Fashola; Information Minister Lai Mohammed; his counterpart in Solid Minerals, Kayode Fayemi; Interior Minister Abdulrahman Dambazau as looters of the nation’s treasury.
Others, according to a statement personally by Fani-Kayode include Chairman Senate Committee on Agriculture, Abdullahi Adamu; former Secretary to the Government of the Federation Babachir Lawal; Group Managing Director, NNPC, Maikanti Baru; Chairman of the defunct Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms Abdulrasheed Maina; Chief of Army Staff Tukur Burutai as well as APC Governors and other key members of the Buhari administration and the governing APC.
Fani-Kayode who was accused of stealing over N800 million, was reacting to the fresh looters list by Information Minister, Lai Mohammed at the weekend.
In a statement personally signed by him on Monday, Fani-Kayode insisted that he has not been convicted by any court of law.
He labelled the allegations as “nonsensical and utterly shameful”, while calling President Buhari’s government ‘weak’.
“I wish to make it abundatly clear that this is nonsensical and utterly shameful and I hereby reiterate the fact that I am totally innocent of any wrongdoing.
“I did not receive and neither was I ever given one kobo by any government official, government agency or government parastatal during President Goodluck Jonathan’s tenure.
“The money that I received was given to me by the Director of Finance of the Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Esther Nenadi Usman, before the election in 2015 and it was specifically for the conduct of the Presidential election,” he said.
The former Minister also accused Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, as the brain behind the prosecution of key opposition members by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
He argued that the publication of the list by the Federal Government violates the 1999 Constitution which presumes an accused person innocent until proven guilty.
The statement added: “It is common knowledge that the Buhari campaign in 2015 was funded by moneys that can be traced directly to the state governments of Rivers state, Lagos state, Kano state, Ogun state and a number of other key APC states yet not one of those involved or that governed any of those states at the time have been questioned, arrested or prosecuted by the EFCC or the Federal Government.
“It is also comon knowledge that President Buhari himself was offered and received several benefits and received money from the office of the former National Security Advisor, Col. Sambo Dasuki, yet nothing has been done about this.
“From the foregoing it is clear that the Buhari administration’s so-called war against corruption is selective and punitive and it is nothing but a vicious media trial and politically-motivated witchunt.
“It is nothing but a squalid and mafia-like attempt to muscle, discredit, demonise and sillence key members of the opposition. It is slanderous, malicious and unjust.
“If not for the fact that the Buhari administration is an irresponsible, weak, desperate and corrupt government that has no confidence in itself and no sense of decency how can they declare people that have not been convicted by any court of law as ‘looters’.
“Apart from that it is a crude and sordid attempt to intimidate the judges and influence the outcome of the cases which are before them and also to compel them to give the judgement that the government wants. This is not only unacceptable but it is also shameful.
“It is a clear violation of the concept of separation of powers which gives the judiciary alone the power to determine the guilt or otherwise of an accused person. It is trite law that only a court of law can declare a man guilty or declare him a thief or a looter and not Buhari and his government”.
The PDP chieftain describes the development as an attempt by the Federal Government to be an investigator, accuser, prosecutor and judge in its own case, adding that he will be vindicated at the end of the day.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
