Posted by By GODWIN TSA Abuja on
The Action Congress (AC) has criticised President Umaru Yar'Adua over his intention in the alleged impeachable offences committed by Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, describing the move as a clear negation of the president's rule of law and due process mantra and a big blow to his administration's anti-corruption war.
The Action Congress (AC) has criticised President Umaru Yar'Adua over his intention in the alleged impeachable offences committed by Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, describing the move as a clear negation of the president's rule of law and due process mantra and a big blow to his administration's anti-corruption war.
'If indeed this President had any scintilla of faith in his mantra, he would allowed due process to take its course, rather than intervene to save a man accused of egregious corruption and maladministration from being held to account by his state's assembly," the party said in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
'By scuttling the process of holding Nyako to account, President Yar'Adua has denied the people of Adamawa the opportunity to know whether the man they supposedly elected is even worthy of that position, or whether the allegations against him were baseless. 'By treating the issue as a ‘family affair', in line with the established tradition of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the President also denied the governor the opportunity of proving his innocence and holding his head high thereafter.
'The right thing to do would have been to allow the governor to defend himself against the allegations, and for all concerned to reach their own conclusions after the whole process," AC said. The party said by thwarting the whole process, perhaps to save face and prevent the early downfall of a man who was propelled into office by hook or crook, the president had again lost an opportunity to put his money where his mouth was.
However, AC urged the anti-corruption agencies to rise above the fray and the attempted cover up by looking, dispassionately, into the allegations against Nyako and acting accordingly. It warned that if the agencies failed to do that, their leadership would be reinforcing the growing cynicism among the populace about the anti-corruption war, as well as confirming that the war was nothing but ‘selective.'
The party also urged the president to convince Nigerians of the sincerity of his administration's effort to stamp out corruption and enthrone due process and rule of law by showing leadership, which required him to rise above the crooked politics of the PDP.