Nelson A.Osuala [19 October 2016]
The youth wing of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, which is a pan-Igbo socio-political organization has accused the Anti-graft agency, EFCC, of a malicious persecution against the former first lady, Dame patience Jonathan.
The group decried the unrepentant attempt by the commission to indict and to convict Patience Jonathan, at all cost.
According to our source, the youth sect did argue in a statement signed by its National President, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, that it is sympathetic as well as surprising that the EFCC is in the business of always rushing to the media to convict suspects without proper investigations.
According to an extract from the statement the group informs that:
“The EFCC is simply persecuting ex first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan. She has already been found guilty without trial in a court of competent jurisdiction. This is unhealthy for our democracy.
EFCC is clearly running a campaign of calumny intended to convict Dame Patience Jonathan at all cost. The former first lady is yet to be tried in court, yet the EFCC has been treating her as a criminal.
This strategy of trial in the media must stop.
“To fight corruption, the process must be thorough and not selective. EFCC is not a court and must submit to the laws of the land.
The haste to rush to the media to vilify suspects is responsible for the low number of convictions recorded by the EFCC.
“If we may ask, where are the wives of former first ladies including past Nigerian leaders who were at various times accused of corruption?
Why can’t they be investigated? We can only take EFCC serious as anti graft agency when it investigates the likes of ex-Presidents, Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Olusegun Obasanjo, including late ones.”
The group however reaffirmed its stand on corruption, and further counselled the antigraft agency to always as a matter of necessity do their homework
thoroughly and carefully before rushing to the media to publish criminating stories about suspects.
As such actions would be tantamount to character assassination which consequently is irreparable especially when such allegations are later found to be unfounded and baseless.
Credit to Vanguard.
Nelson A.Osuala
Is a Blogger & the Associate Editor of Negroidhaven.org
(Negroidhaven)
