Posted by By CHRISTIAN ITA on
Against the backdrop of a barrage of criticisms that have attended the withdrawal of his threat to mention names of federal legislators he claimed were fraudsters, Senator Nuhu Aliyu has come out to defend his action, declaring that he is not a coward as some people are wont to say.
Against the backdrop of a barrage of criticisms that have attended the withdrawal of his threat to mention names of federal legislators he claimed were fraudsters, Senator Nuhu Aliyu has come out to defend his action, declaring that he is not a coward as some people are wont to say.
Aliyu, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence had about two weeks ago said 'those who collude with 419ers and stole millions of US dollars have themselves to blame because of their greed. Mr President, I have said it before, but I am repeating it today without regrets, that there are still 419ers in this National Assembly."
He subsequently threatened to name them.
However, on the floor Senate Wednesday, the Senator withdrew his earlier statement, citing the advice from his lawyers as reason.
Since then, several groups and individuals such as the United Action for Democracy (UAD) and Honorable Daniel Melaye (Dino), have been calling the Niger State-born senator names for taking the decision not to make good his threat to mention the lawmakers he claimed were engaged in Advanced Fee Fraud.
While the UAD for instance, called him a coward, Melaye, a member of the House of Representatives from Kogi State described him as a noisemaker.
According to the lawmaker, 'If you live in a glass house, you cannot throw stones. The former DIG openly canvassed the infamous Third Term agenda and he possibly benefited from the largesse. So, where is his moral high ground? He worked for Third Term on national television, didn't he? I don't believe he had anything to present in the first place. He was just a noisemaker."
But the man in the eye of the storm has rejected the tags, saying he is neither a coward nor a noisemaker.
Describing such comments about him as unfair, he contended that it is wrong for 'anybody to call me a coward having served the Nigerian Police for 35 years and the latter part as DIG Alagbon."
He explained that his decision was based on the advice of his lawyers who reasoned that 'there would have been a remarkable difference if I had alleged or said suspected criminals, which could be subject to further investigation by the EFCC."
Arguing that it was within his right and privilege to withdraw the statement, Senator Aliyu also denied the charge that he was given to double speak and warned extremists from pushing to the wall.
'My integrity is intact and those who know me can attest to the fact that I was not double speaking. If I am pushed to the wall, I have other options open to me. The furore generated by the statement should also tell us something about our system," he added.
On the insistence by the Senate that the allegation be probed by its Ethics Committee, the former Police DIG said when 'I get to the bridge I know how to cross it."
He maintained that as a senior police officer who was in-charge of the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) at Alagbon, a lot of persons passed through 'my office at Alagbon. 419 involves a lot of underhand dealings."