by Oluwatosin Fatoyinbo
The Chairman of the Conference of Political Parties (CNPP) and former Governor of Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa believes that the missing $10 billion missing from the accounts of the National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) may have gone to the Boko Haram set as the Federal Government’s contribution to the sect. he asked that the National Assembly set up a panel to investigate the financiers of the group
While displaying his anger for the pictures showing Ali Modu as a part of the President’s entourage to Chad, he said there was no need to investigate all the links between the President, Sheriff and Boko Haram.
Balarabe Musa said: “Remember that the former CBN governor made a weighty allegation about the missing $40 billion that was reduced to $20 billion. The NNPC denied it and later, the President himself after he suspended Sanusi also agreed that $10 billion was not accounted for. Now, in that case, both the allegation against Sanusi and the miss-handling of Sanusi’s letter by the President should be included in the investigation. That amount maybe part of the money made available to Boko Haram by the government. The whole thing should be investigated. Nobody should be left out of the investigation because that is the only way we can know the truth; and that makes the government incapable to conduct the investigation. It must be an independent body.”
According to him, “there was no need for any international criminal investigative body to be invited into the country’s internal affairs since the National Assembly could serve as an independent body to do a thorough investigation, arguing that Nigeria was not a banana republic where foreign countries could be called to interfere.”
“Do you think the Chinese and the Americans would allow foreign countries to investigate their affairs? Not everyone in Nigeria and those in the National Assembly in particular is a Boko Haram sympathiser. Even though we are polarised at the moment, we must find someone who we can trust at home. We cannot trust the executive and judiciary to do it; we should allow the NASS to do it. As bad as they maybe the NASS are the ones directly representing Nigerians. It is more difficult to manipulate the NASS because they are people with different interest,” he said.
“The President and Sheriff are probably collaborating to hide the truth about Boko Haram. President Jonathan is giving Sheriff the strength to feel that they are together and that they will stand with each other. This is the impression I have; and definitely it is a reasonable impression.
“This is not the first time the president is flirting with those under investigation. You remember how the President appeared in a group photograph with the erstwhile Aviation minister, Stella Oduah, in Israel when she was accused of squandering the nation’s resources on bullet-proof cars. The President gave the impression that he was supporting the minister. Nigerians were shocked and surprised that a minster under serious allegation bordering on corruption and gross misconduct, did not consider it moral to avoid taking the minister on an oversee tour or associating with her. So, the continuation of misconduct, even if it did not amount to conspiracy, it is an impeachable offence,” he said.
He further said that Nigeria has got to the point where even when there is no democratic way of changing a government under current circumstance, other tools available to check excesses of government and abuse of power should be employed in order to save the country’s nascent democracy.
“We certainly don’t want military coup. So, the simplest thing is impeachment. If we can’t have military coup and we don’t want impeachment, then, we will have social revolution. This unemployment, the current level of corruption- wasting and stealing of the nation’s resources, corruption in public institutions and mindlessness of political leaders call for drastic action,” he said.
New CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele has not given an official position of the apex bank on the allegation that the alleged official who handles money sent to Boko Haram by yet-to-be identified Nigerian politicians, currently works in the apex bank’s operations department. Efforts to reach CBN’s Corporate Affairs Head, Ibrahim Muazu was unfruitful as he had yet to return several calls or reply text message sent to his phone as at the time of this report.
