HERE may be no end yet to the brickbats between the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on the former’s call for the sack of President Goodluck Jonathan’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe.
As the ACN yesterday insisted that Okupe was not a fit and proper person to hold the position given his alleged past steeped in corruption and criminal conversion of state funds, the PDP countered, stressing that the opposition party was being hypocritical.
In a statement issued in Ibadan yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party described as false and deliberately misleading a statement credited to the spokesman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, (EFCC), Mr. Wilson Uwujaaren, that he was not aware that Okupe was under investigation, as it was on record that Okupe was in the custody of the EFCC in Lagos for almost one month between July and August 2006, on account of a contract he obtained this time from Imo State but which he failed to execute after collecting a hefty mobilisation fee.
ACN warned the EFCC and other relevant agencies especially the Presidency not to attempt to falsify and obliterate records in order to give Okupe a clean bill of health in relation to these allegations as Okupe’s fraudulent activities were not limited to Benue and Imo states alone and are too well documented for any attempt at a cover up. The party further warned all those who knew how to bury dead bodies to remember those who also knew how to exhume them.
The party reiterated its earlier position that retaining Okupe as the administration’s spokesman on Public Affairs was not just an insult to the collective integrity of all Nigerians but also flew in the face of the administration’s flaunted commitment to fighting corruption.
However, the PDP in the South-West yesterday faulted call for
Okupe’s sack, maintaining that the ACN had no moral standing to talk on
corruption or any crime in the country.
Okupe’s sack, maintaining that the ACN had no moral standing to talk on
corruption or any crime in the country.
PDP Zonal Publicity Secretary, Kayode Babade, in a statement
insisted that the ACN must first fumigate its own house to get rid of “grossly
corrupt and criminal minded elements in its fold before seeking to clean other
peoples’ house.”
insisted that the ACN must first fumigate its own house to get rid of “grossly
corrupt and criminal minded elements in its fold before seeking to clean other
peoples’ house.”
The PDP maintained that it was laughable that the ACN that kept
silent over the trial of the Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr.
Adeyemi Ikuforiji, who was accused of stealing over N7 billion belonging to the
House and was standing trial before a Federal High Court, could be asking
Mr. President to sack Okupe over an unsubstantiated allegation of fraud.
silent over the trial of the Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr.
Adeyemi Ikuforiji, who was accused of stealing over N7 billion belonging to the
House and was standing trial before a Federal High Court, could be asking
Mr. President to sack Okupe over an unsubstantiated allegation of fraud.
The statement read in part, “Speaker of the Lagos State House of
Assembly, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, is standing trial for allegedly stealing and
laundering N500 million.
Assembly, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, is standing trial for allegedly stealing and
laundering N500 million.
“In spite of this, he still presides over the affairs of the House
and the hypocrites in the ACN have not deemed it necessary to ask the Speaker
to resign or step aside until the conclusion of his criminal trial.”
and the hypocrites in the ACN have not deemed it necessary to ask the Speaker
to resign or step aside until the conclusion of his criminal trial.”
“Is the loudmouth in the ACN also unaware of the conviction of the
House of Representatives Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, by the Supreme
Court of Georgia, United States for defrauding his client of $25,000?
House of Representatives Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, by the Supreme
Court of Georgia, United States for defrauding his client of $25,000?
