By Musa Ude, National News Editor
There seems to be no respite for embattled Chairman of the Special Presidential Panel on Recovery of Public property, Obono Obla, as President Muhammadu Buhari has been asked to give order for his arrest.
The clarion call came from Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, following a spate of accusations of corruption and abuse of office levelled against the presidential aide..
In a statement issued by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, on Monday, argued that relying on the story trending in the news on the sack of Mr Obla, “ his dismissal has even come a bit later than generally expected.”
HURIWA went on to stated that, “As a totally non political and pro-transparency platform, we in the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria had petitioned the National Assembly to investigate the allegations of certificate scam against the Senior Special Aide of Mr President for Prosecution because we believe comprehensively that he who goes to equity must do so with clean hands and the National Assembly had to set up a special Ad-hoc committee to investigate the concerns we and many others raised that the man heading the panel on Recovery of Public property is not a fit and proper person to so hold such a sensitive position.
“And the Federal parliament in their wisdom called the Chief Registrer of the West African School Certificate Examination Council and the Council appeared before the National Assembly under oath and tendered evidence in documentation directly indicting Mr Obono Obla of tempering with an aspect of his WAEC certificate with which he used to procure admission to University of Jos to read law and that what he parades as his WAEC is not valid.
“The House categorically asked Mr President to sack this his now indicted aide but the President decided to play politics and never acted even when he is abreast of the sensitive nature of allowing such a character already deemed unfit to continue to harass Nigerians in the position of an anti corruption fighter when he has a matter in which the issuing authority of the certificate he parades said he allegedly forged it.
“He (Obono Obla) rather refused to appear before the National Assembly and has continued to move from one place to another selling himself as Buhari’s anti graft crusader.
“We hereby call on Mr President not to give in to any lobbying from any quaters to let Obono Obla remain in this office that he is not in anyway suitable and in fact we learnt from impeccable sources that he has in the last three or four years operated a one man squad in a Presidential institution that should have experts and other public officials who ought to be allowed to discharge their statutory roles in line with the terms of their engagement by Mr President in his wisdom.
“Why should one person be let to run an institution as Chairman and chief accountant of the same Presidential Panel when this clearly violates the well known principles of checks and balances which nourishes transparency and accountability in government? We were told that as Chairman he has failed to even take instructions from the Federal Attorney General and the Vice President who is the most learned lawyer in government at the moment with a professorial title to his name.”
HURIWA said based on this premise, “We give our absolute and unconditional support to Mr President because nobody should be treated as a sacred cow.”
