Reacting to Okonjo-Iweala's statement, Falana yesterday in his own statement, accused her of being quick to deflect criticisms by accusing anyone seeking to hold her to account for her 'appalling records' in government, of having ulterior political motives. The statement in part reads
“When
Prof Chukwuma Soludo alleged that about N30tr could not be accounted
for under her watch he was described as “an embittered loser. When
comrade Adams Oshiomole questioned the illegal withdrawal of $2bn from
the Excess Crude Account, he was accused of having animus towards her
because she had blocked Edo State from obtaining a loan.
Therefore,
instead of exchanging vulgar abuse with the former Minister I shall
respond to the diversionary allegations which lacerated her response and
the attempt to extricate herself from the mass looting of the
commonwealth under her watch.
The claim that I am unfamiliar with the
mandate of the ICC shows that Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala has not been following
the practice of the court and its active and robust approach to its
mandates, in particular with regard to the investigation of crimes in
Darfur, the warrant of arrest for Joseph Kony (Uganda), and the warrant
of arrest for Ahmad Harun, (Sudan).
In many decided cases, the ICC has
expanded its mandate to humanitarian issues, aimed at forestalling and
impeding the perpetration of crimes which cause gross human rights
abuse. There is absolutely nothing in the Rome Statute of the ICC to
suggest that the court cannot address impunity for enormous financial
crimes (and its crippling impact) which took place while Mrs.
Okonjo-Iweala was the Finance Minister and the Coordinating Minister of
the economy.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala also claimed that my petition against her
to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) “were lacking in
credibility”, without any substantiation of what this means or specific
rebuttal of the allegations contained in that petition. She has however
not denied the accuracy of the claims in my petition. Whereas the
former Finance Minister had insisted that only $500 million was
recovered from the Abacha loot my petition detailed the recovery of $4
billion. As she could not challenge my claim Dr. Okonjo-Iweala now says
that the $500 million was the amount recovered while she was the
Minister of Finance under President Obasanjo. In making that claim she
did not take cognizance of her recent statement that while she gave out
$322 million to Col. Dasuki the sum of $700 million had been set aside
for development. From her own account, over $1 billion was recovered
from the loot under the Jonathan regime when she was coordinating the
economy.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has continued to give the erroneous
impression that she rendered selfless service to the nation. But while
her colleagues who served as Ministers under President Olusegun Obasanjo
were paid their salaries and allowances in the local currency she
received hers in dollars despite a judgment of the Court of Appeal which
had declared the payment illegal and unconstitutional in the case of
Fawehinmi v The President (2007) 14 NWLR (Pt 1054) 275. In order to weep
up sentiments Dr. Okonjo-Iweala referred to the unfortunate kidnap of
her 84-year mother, two years ago. But it is public knowledge that the
lumpen elements involved in the kidnap were arrested by the Lagos State
Police Command.
From the report of police investigation the kidnappers
were palace guards who were inspired by sheer avarice. In fact, they
were arrested by the Police following the disagreement over the sharing
of the N12 million ransom paid to them for the criminal enterprise. In
the Appropriation Act of 2011, the sum of N245 billion was budgeted for
fuel subsidy. But at the end of the year, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala had
authorized the illegal payment of about N2.5 trillion to a cabal of fuel
importers. As usual, she washed off her hands like Pontius Pilate. In
order to unearth the monumental fraud I petitioned the EFCC and gave
oral testimony before the House of Representatives Committee which
separately investigated it.
In the same vein, I have just asked the
Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation under
the Freedom of Information Act to provide information on the failure of
the NNPC to pay into the Federation Account the sum of $9.7 billion out
of the $11.8 billion dividends paid by NLNG from 2004-2014. I have
equally demanded information from the NEITI over its claim that the NNPC
and some oil companies are indebted to the Federal Government to the
tune of $19.1 billion. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s claim that I own the
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) is far-fetched
and laughable.
A simple google search would have shown her that while I
am one of the legal advisers of the organization, there are other very
distinguished lawyers and academics of international repute on SERAP’s
board. Her claim that SERAP is ‘discredit’ is the exact opposite of
reckless characterization because it is an organization that has won
national and international recognitions—including nomination for the UN
civil society award; the Ford Foundation Jubilee Transparency Award; and
the Wole Soyinka Anti-Corruption Defender Award. It is my belief that
the recovered loot should be channeled towards job creation and
infrastructural development. Therefore, all hands should be on deck to
ensure that the recovered loot is not criminally diverted by another set
of looters"the statement read.
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