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Nigeria may see the re-opening of the legendary Siemens and Halliburton scandals, if the recent words of Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, is anything to go by.
Vanguard quoted him as saying in an interview in Abuja that President Muhammadu Buhari was not afraid of taking the Halliburton and Siemens cases despite the fact that those indicted were top military leaders including former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his Vice, Atiku Abubakar.
There had been reports that the government was afraid to confront the powerful beneficiaries of the scam which had landed other suspects in the United States, Germany and others in jail.
Nigeria is said to have lost over $182 million to the Halliburton corruption case alone.
Malami said Buhari was not a man who could be restrained by fear from doing what was right and in the overall best interest of Nigerians he had sworn to defend and protect from harm’s way.
Malami said:
“The idea of fear does not come in at all as far as this President is concerned in the fight against graft. Don’t forget that whatever Mr. President does is guided by the rule of law and available evidence.
“It must be noted, however, that no extraneous influence can influence our actions as we move to fight corruption in all its ramifications. To be noted also is the clear fact that no criminal case can be closed once the facts are handy regardless of who is involved.”
I urge Mr President to direct this war against corruption first and foremost to the judiciary and the
anti craft agencies because in my opinion, A corrupt judge is worse than a corruption politician
or a political thief.
Therefore purging both the judiciary and the anti craft agencies of bad eggs who I see as the
real enemies, will be the key to not only fighting corruption but making the institutions stronger.
9 years for Dariye’s trial to start is seriously laughable.
God help Nigeria
Nine years to start trial?
Nigeria justice system is honestly a laughing stock.
Honestly, we need strong institutions for things to be done properly.
9 years is a very long time and I believe many evidence would by now be nowhere and some witnesses either gone or died.
Anyway let’s hope for the best and an end to corruption in Nigeria.