Why some ex-governors won’t face trial, by CCB

By Kamarudeen Ogundele, Abuja

 

CCB Chairman Sam Saba

THE crisis of confidence in the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) was laid bare yesterday.

Many former governors accused of breaching the oath of office have been let off the hook, after a plea bargain, the Bureau said yesterday. The revelation raised the question of the propriety of trying former Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu.

CCB Chairman Sam Saba told reporters in Abuja that some of those governors had made some refunds, hence their exclusion from trial.

He was reacting to questions on the sudden decision to prosecute the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Leader – a move that has been roundly condemned as political and selective.

Saba denied that Tinubu was charged before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) to persecute him.

“Tinubu has not been singled out for trial; it is an ongoing process. You will also note that some of those governors at that time made some refunds to the Federal Government. Somebody like Saminu Turaki made refunds to the Federal Government and so it is an ongoing exercise,” he said.

The CCB boss, who claimed that he had no personal interest in the case, denied having any disagreement with his Federal Commissioners over the trial of the ACN chieftain.

But The Nation learnt that a board crisis has hit the Bureau. A member was excluded from a meeting the CCB held yesterday. Besides, he was not invited to the news conference.

The member, it was learnt, was against any trial without due process, such as Tinubu’s.

It was learnt that when the member asked why he was left out of the meeting, he was told that he was thought to have been out of the office.

It was gathered that the case of a former Kaduna State governor was discussed at yesterday’s meeting, but details of the discussion were sketchy at press time. 

Saba said even if he took “a central position in the activities of the Bureau in the case against Tinubu, it should be understood because he is the chairman of the organisation and its principal spokesman”.

Saba also denied that the plans to charge some former governors, who are estranged members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), before the CCT is a ruse to deceive the public on the victimisation of Tinubu.

He said: “We (CCB) don’t know if we are preparing names of new governors, but I know that we are working on some investigation and verification. When it is appropriate for us to determine that they have defaulted, they will be taken to the tribunal and the names of those to be taken to tribunal will be given to you. But, we are not going to subject anybody to trial on the pages of newspapers.”

Tinubu is accused of operating foreign accounts more than four years after he left office. The accounts, Tinubu insists, were never run while he was in office. The balances in all the accounts are said to be less than £32,000.

The frontline politician maintains that his trial is a desperate bid by the ruling PDP to punish him for its loss of the Southwest and oil its plan to reclaim the zone.

SOURCE: The Nation Newspaper, 28 September 2011.  http://www.thenationonlineng.net