By Ikeddy ISIGUZO
NOBODY should leave the deserved impeachment of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to Senate President Obong Godswill Akpabio. He cannot see the importance. Nigerians should demand the removal or resignation of Tinubu for wanton disregard of the 1999 Constitution with which he was sworn into office and which he swore to uphold.
If Akpabio becomes an obstacle to the process he should be swept away with Tinubu.
Tinubu has got used to picking and choosing parts of the Constitution to obey. His appointments are riddled with examples of Tinubu’s abhorrence of federal character provisions, exclusion of parts of the country.
His financial opacity shows in big contracts, the likes of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
As Akpabio enables him to skip clear laws on financial management, he becomes bolder and blinded to the law. Tinubu now moves chunks of federal resources to wherever he pleases. His supporters are applauding what they call the Jagaban effect.
He is used to acting outside the Constitution before running to Akpabio for cover. An example is Tinubu appropriating N50 billion from forfeited cash with EFCC to the NELFUND – two years ago.
Maybe because the challenge then was feeble, Tinubu has returned more brazenly to instruct EFCC to unlawfully move about N224 billion to the same NELFUND account for scholarships.
People are praising his good intentions, but he has no powers to appropriate the funds or spend them without the approval of the National Assembly.
Still acting lawlessly, he has asked that funds from unclaimed dividends and dormant accounts be used in funding NELFUND activities. Nobody knows how much these funds will yield.
Moreover, there are laws guiding the use of these funds. Has Tinubu amended them?
It was only after criticisms nudged him to momentary wakefulness that he asked the relevant agencies to look at laws that could ground his grand his constitutional disregard of the law.
Will mere criticisms rein Tinubu in or would Akpabio who considers the National Assembly his theatre for entertaining himself call Tinubu to order?
Tinubu’s desire will need amendment of several laws, including sections of the Constitution.
All finally forfeited cash (in Naira or foreign currencies) is deposited into the Federal Government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund account housed at the Central Bank of Nigeria. These funds form part of national revenues subject to appropriation and budgeting by the National Assembly not presidential orders.
Minister of Education Dr. Alaba Alausa described Tinubu’s constitutional infraction as “presidential benevolence”.
“The president, in his benevolence, has now directed that all funds recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission be diverted to NELFUND to continue to support its funding,” Dr. Alausa announced. He used the right word – “diverted”.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole on a 25 October 2013 judgement in the contention between the Federal Government and the Delta State Government over ownership of the $15 million, which had been kept in the custody of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) since April 2007 after it was allegedly offered as a bribe to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, that once the money was forfeited, it belonged to the Federal Government.
The President of Nigeria is not the Federal Government.
Would Tinubu and his horde of advisers be aware of Section 80, Sub-section (2) of the 1999 Constitution which states: “No money can be taken out of the Consolidated Revenue of the Federation unless the Constitution charges the expense or the National Assembly authorises it through an Appropriation Act, Supplementary Appropriation Act, or Section 81”.
Could this move be part of the infinite powers the Tinubu administration craves?
Dr. Alausa said the Federal Executive Council approved a presidential directive that all unclaimed dividends from the Capital Market Trust Fund and the Dormant Account Trust Fund be channelled to NELFUND, to make the fund financially buoyant enough to meet its expanding obligations to Nigerian students.
FEC also approved that all unclaimed dividends from the Capital Market Trust Fund and the Dormant Account Trust Fund should be directed to NELFUND, so that NELFUND will be buoyant.
Tinubu knows what he is doing. He will not pass through the National Assembly for his planned invasion of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Nigeria. Very deliberate ploy to acquire unconstitutional powers.
He has ordered EFCC to work with relevant agencies to clear obstacles to implementation of his decisions. He calls the Constitution and our laws “obstacles”.
When it came to Suleja Academy, a planned new gifted children’s school, Tinubu directed the Attorney-General to prepare an Executive Bill for onward transmission to the National Assembly for the school to have legal backing.
He reckons he needs no financial bill to move billions of Naira out of the Federation Account and other public accounts.
Tinubu has to be stopped before he eclipses the National Assembly and descends into complete lawlessness and brags, “there is nothing you can do about it”.
Finally…
KYERNA Jonathan, 35, mother of five, of rural Bin Mper, Mangu LGA, Plateau State lost three of her children, saving two almost by losing her own life. Kyerna is the latest heroine of Plateau’s mindless, endless attacks. She laid on her two children, taking the hail of bullets in their stead as the terrorists broke into houses, in a killing spree, in the dead of the night. Twenty-five were counted dead in that single attack, the fifth major attack in Plateau in August, and two of them in Mangu. There was even a co-ordinated attack in Mangu that stretched from 12-17 August. Yet the digital security cameras President Bola Ahmed Tinubu promised Plateau State during a condolence to visit Jos in April have failed to arrive. Plateau’s troubles are not too far from the attention of the President whose return in 2027 occupies the most important August comments of his trusted ally Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, an indigene of Plateau State, a Professor of ICT Systems, who is the national chairman of the ruining All Progressives Congress, APC, and a former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction. What does Yilwatda tell Tinubu about Plateau? Celebrations of Kyerna’s heroics pales against the certainty of future attacks while the likes of Yilwatda and George Akume from Benue are too busy praising Tinubu to speak up against Tinubu’s lack of interest in fighting insecurity.
JAGABAN of where? The title which Tinubu relishes when fully rendered is Jagaban Borgu meaning the Chief Warrior of Borgu, an ancient kingdom that sprawls into Benin Republic, parts of Oyo, Kwara, Kebbi, and Niger State where Emir Haliru Dantoro Kitoro III, a Tinubu associate, gave him the title in 2006. Terrorists killed over 30 people, and abducted more than 600 most of who were praying in mosques in parts of Borgu Local Government Area. Jagaban Borgu has asked the military and security agencies to move into Borgu and return all the abducted safely. Those who know Borgu claim that military operations would almost be impossible in Borgu which is mostly unmotorable. We may need the non-kinetic approaches of National Security Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.
YOBE State has recorded more than 1,500 persons, mainly children, as missing. The International Committee of the Red Cross is also working with that number. It is not clear if the government considers finding the missing persons a priority.
PRAISES are pouring in for the President for bluntly asking the Nigeria Football Federation to go. Sadly, the affairs of football have come under the supervision of another fake federal agency, the National Sports Commission. The President should complete the process by asking those around football to invite the FIFA Normalisation Committee, to help us build our football on a sustainable foundation.
THE passing of Eagle online Publisher Dotun Oladipo on Tuesday has left many in shocks. Each tribute dwells on his professionalism, generosity, and his courage. I doubtlessly remember Dotun’s huge doses of respect, gratitude when you point out an error to him, and his mild manners. I was looking forward to seeing him at September’s Guild of Editors meeting in Enugu. My condolences to his families. May the Almighty grant him rest.
*ISIGUZO is a major commentator on minor issues