You’re biased, Oshiomhole tells EFCC
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- Category: Politics
- Published on Thursday, 22 July 2010 06:58
- Written by Compass
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GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of bias in its investigation and trial of public officers, institutions and corporate bodies involved in corrupt practices.
Specifically, Oshiomhole berated the agency for remaining silent over the claim by the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that it realised over $2 billion worth of subsidised petrol in the first five months of this year.
This came as the group executive councils of the NNPC NUPENG and PENGASSAN yesterday said they had uncovered an ongoing secret plot by the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) to surreptitiously transfer ownership and control of some carefully selected performing and viable “national assets in the NNPC” to certain surrogate foreign fronts.
Oshiomhole said leaders must, as a matter of necessity, provide basic answers to the radical questions from youths who constitute the future of the country on the correct practical expression to the much-talked about transparency, due process and accountability in governance, which according to him is the promise of democracy.
The governor made the remarks yesterday at the third National Conference of the School of Business Studies of the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, held in the state.
The conference had as its theme: Aftermath of the Global Economic Meltdown: Impact of National Development’.
Democracy, he noted, would not work if the people remain docile like the tortoise, which lacks the means to provide for itself the safety cover against adverse economic weather.
He, therefore, said students should return to the basic responsibility of putting pressure on leaders in government for salient answers to issues affecting the country and its citizens.
Oshiomhole explained that with the $2 billion claim by the NNPC, the agency would have spent $5 billion (about N750 billion) by the end of the year in the name of subsidising one product, a development he said raises doubt about the nation’s path to growth in the nearest future, considering the myriad problems facing the various sectors and people.
“If petrol has become pure water that we drink and bathe with, we don’t consume that amount. That money is being stolen by officials between the NNPC, PPRA and some elements in the Federal Ministry of Finance. And it has direct relationship with you (students) because when the state says we don’t have the capacity to meet with the obligations, it is because what has been stolen is no longer available to meet the needs of the education sector,” he said.
He accused NNPC officials and their cohorts of illegally deducting the funds in violation of the Constitution.
