The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, has hailed the signing of Executive Order 6 by President Muhammadu Buhari, even as it pointed out what the new measure will do for Nigeria.
The Order approves temporary forfeiture of suspicious assets in the country.
In a statement made available to DAILY POST on Friday, the Executive Chairman of CACOL, Debo Adeniran described the move as a masterstroke in Buhari administration’s fight against corruption.
CACOL said, “The signing of the Executive Order six, that seeks to restrain owners of assets under investigation from carrying out any further transaction on such assets – that are suspected to have been corruptly acquired at home or abroad by top government officials, in and outside government between 1999 and now- is a necessary and inevitable frontal attack on corrupt government officials and other politically exposed persons.
“Like the President rightly noted, one cannot be engaged in arguments over who eats a carrot that belongs to the household whereas one person is already willfully and illegally holding and eating the same carrot. This would certainly not serve the course of justice effectively as the same carrot may have been consumed, mutilated or damaged before a decision on the matter could be arrived at.
“This is why corruption suspects have become emboldened in their quest to perpetuate criminality. In Malaysia and several other countries battling corruption, no government allows a public official undergoing corruption investigation to keep assets or property above his legitimate income while the case is on-going.
“It is noteworthy that the President, while signing the order pointed out that a whopping N595b was involved in some of the on-going high-profile corruption cases including assets that were illegally acquired by ex-governors and ministers. This is more than the federal allocation to any individual state of the federation or any of the federal ministries in the recently signed 2018 national budget. It is therefore very glaring, that one singular affliction that has been responsible for frustrating and inhibiting all efforts at remaking and retooling the national economy is unbridled Corruption, at all levels of governance in Nigeria.
“We at CACOL, therefore give our full backing to the President in his latest effort aimed at re-tooling the present administration’s fight against Corruption, which we sincerely believe is a major millstone hindering our nation from realizing its full potentials.”
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