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The Action Congress (AC) has asked President Umaru Yar'Adua to live up to his zero-tolerance-for-corruption stance by directing the police to unravel the mystery surrounding the alleged indictment of Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State, by an Administrative Panel for serious acts of misconduct in 1995, as claimed by an Abuja-based NGO, Campaign for Integrity (CI).
The Action Congress (AC) has asked President Umaru Yar'Adua to live up to his zero-tolerance-for-corruption stance by directing the police to unravel the mystery surrounding the alleged indictment of Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State, by an Administrative Panel for serious acts of misconduct in 1995, as claimed by an Abuja-based NGO, Campaign for Integrity (CI).
In a statement issued in Abuja on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the president's intervention is necessary to get to the root of the serious allegation, which is a litmus test of the administration's avowed commitment to entrenching transparency, fighting corruption and ensuring respect for the rule of law.
'The CI, which published a copy of the letter of Alao-Akala's compulsory retirement from the police after his alleged indictment, was unequivocal that the governor changed his name to cover up his indictment, but Governor Alao-Akala spokesman, Dotun Oyelade, said the allegation was not true while media reports said the governor's service records are missing from the police file.
'Against this background, and with Alao-Akala occupying the governorship seat of one of Nigeria's key states, it is incumbent on the authorities to ensure there is no cover-up of any sort," the party said.
AC criticized the police for deliberately keeping mute in the face of such a serious allegation against one of its former officers, wondering where else the service records of Alao-Akala could be found if not with the police.
'The Nigeria police must start the process of re-inventing itself by looking inwards. If the records of service of a former officer are not safe with the police, what then is safe with the force?," it added.
AC said Akala's spokesman knee-jerk reaction that the allegation was 'a bundle of lies cooked up by desperate politicians" was predictable from a lick-spittle aide, and that his jab at the party (AC) was neither here nor there.
'Oyelade can blab all he wants, and even ignore the message and descend on the messenger. But we will not be cowed into allowing this monumental cover up, perhaps the most egregious in the country's history, to go uninvestigated.
'If it is true, as Oyelade claimed, that the allegation was cooked up, is he then saying the letter with which Alao-Alaka - then Bayo Alao - was compulsorily retired was forged? If so, we hope the law will take its course. But if not, Oyelade himself should be seen as an accessory to the criminal charge that should result from this attempt at cover-up.
'This is because we are talking here of a person (Alao-Akala), who was indicted by a police panel over serious acts of misconduct, then went ahead to change his name to cover up his past misdeeds and later emerged as governor of one of Nigeria's most vibrant states.
'This person probably doctored his documents, including certificates, to escape the eagle-eye scrutiny of INEC and the security agencies, or perhaps the agencies decided to be a part of the cover-up," AC added.