A coalition of civil rights
organisations in the country is mounting pressure on the Lagos State Government
to initiate an investigation into the N255m allegedly intercepted by the
police on Sunday, May 31, 2009, in the office of Next International, the private
firm of Anambra State governor, Peter Obi located at 7, Aerodrome Road, Apapa
in Lagos.
In a statement issued Saturday
in Abuja and signed by the president of the coalition, Comrade Joseph
Ifedinobi; the secretary, Barrister Jeremiah Tumba; and the publicity
secretary, Tunde Oladimeji, the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which
come under the umbrella of Transparency In Government Coalition, advised Lagos
State to investigate the interception of “this huge sum with a view to
prosecuting the governor from next March when he leaves office if he is found
culpable.”
The group disclosed that it
wants the outgoing governor investigated so as “to stop the terrible practice
of governors stealing their states blind and investing their loots in places other
their own and consequently under-developing their states”, accusing Obi
of having just completed building the largest shopping mall in Abuja worth over
N3 billion .
Explaining its reason for
calling on Lagos to look into the matter, rather than wait for the police and
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to do so, the coalition
said: “Public confidence in the two anti-graft institutions has been
declining rapidly on account of the lethargic manner they have in recent times
been going about their business.”
It said “The offence was
committed within the Lagos territory, so it is, in our view, within the legal
and moral competence of the Lagos State government to investigate and prosecute
the case, just as the state government has been prosecuting Major Hamza El
Mustapha, General Sani Abacha’s chief security officer, for the alleged
murder of Kudirat Abiola, wife of Chief Moshood Abiola who won the June
12, 1993, presidential election. ”
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