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FG Drags Alamieyeseigha to Conduct Tribunal

Posted by From George Oji in Abuja, John Iwori in Yenagoa and Segun James in Warri on 2005/11/28 | Views: 593 |

FG Drags Alamieyeseigha to Conduct Tribunal


The Federal Government yesterday tightened the noose around the neck of Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, slamming a 19-count charge against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

* Deploys more troops in Yenagoa


The Federal Government yesterday tightened the noose around the neck of Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, slamming a 19-count charge against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.


The charges, which were filed by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo, came just as the Federal Government deployed more troops in Yenagoa, the state capital, to preempt a breakdown of law and order as Bayelsa lawmakers prepare to advance effort to impeach the governor who returned, in controversial circumstances two weeks ago, from London where he was standing trial for alleged money laundering.


Apparently relying on an indictment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commis-sion (EFCC), the Federal Government accused the governor of making a false declaration of assets, and maintaining and operating foreign bank accounts. Both offences, it said constituted an abuse of office that contravenes provisions of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, 1990.
The case, which comes up Thursday, will be heard in Kaduna.


Specifically, the charges which were similar to the grounds of impeachment filed by the state House of Assembly, among other things, accused the governor of maintaining and operating a foreign personal bank account number 10659347 with Barclays Bank Plc, United Kingdom with a balance of GBP203753.34 between 1999 and September 2005, while in office as a governor. This, the government argued, was contrary to section 7 and punishable under section 23 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act., Cap. 56 LFN 1990.


He was also accused of maintaining another foreign account number 3239940 with UBS Warburg AG, 1 Curzon Street, London, W1J5HB with a balance of $2.5 million from May 1999 to date and contrary to section 7 and punishable under section 23 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act., Cap. 56 LFN 1990.


Citing several instances of concealment of other assets, especially real estate, the Federal Government accused the governor of  failing to declare the acquisition, between April 2003 and September 2005, of the flowing properties:


• Plot 916 & 917, Wuse II District, Abuja;
• Plot 7, Cadastral Zone A6, Maitama Abuja;
• Plot 1267, Amazon Road, Abuja;
• Plot 3375, Cadastrl Zone A6, Abuja;
• Plot 1372-1374, Cadastral Zone A7, Wuse II, Abuja;
• Plot 1281, Cadastral Zone A4, Asokoro, Abuja.


According to the Federal Government, the assets are not fairly attributable to his income, saying this constitutes a breach of section 15(3) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Cap. 56 LFN 1990 as incorporated under Paragraph II, Part I, Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution and punishable under section 23 of the Act.


The stage for the Federal Government's case was set last Friday when a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja whittled down the effect of the immunity from criminal prosecution clause 308 of the 1999 Constitution, which shields the President, his deputy, governors and their deputies from prosecution, by empowering the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Mohammadu Uwais, to empanel a committee to investigate criminal allegations against the Bayelsa State governor.


Alamieyeseigha had in 2003 frustrated an attempt by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Miscellaneous Offences Commission (ICPC), to stop his return to office, following several petitions accusing him of siphoning state funds totaling about N1.7 billion, by challenging the jurisdiction of the commission in court.


He had pleaded that under section 308 of the constitution, he was immune from criminal prosecution. The case dragged until Friday when Justice Anwuli Chikere ruled that the ICPC, which investigated the governor acted within the law to recommend to the CJN for probe, having substantially indicted him in its comprehensive but preliminary investigation.


With the court ruling,  Alamieyeseigha may have become vulnerable to political predators who had been asking for his neck.


While the charges were being filed in Abuja, tension mounted in Yenagoa where the Federal Government had deployed troops in the state capital that had witnessed two mass protests within two weeks of the controversial return of the governor from London.


The deployment of troops from Operation Restore Hope, the joint military task force in the Niger Delta, and Air Defence Artillery Regiment, (ADAR), Elele, Rivers State, according to THISDAY check, was part of an elaborate plan by the central government to secure the state as the state House of Assembly prepared to enter a more critical stage in its effort to impeach the governor for alleged gross misconducts.


THISDAY sources said as part of the security beef-up, the Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Commodore John Kpokpogri, held a crucial meeting yesterday with the commanders of naval ships and bases in Warri to discuss the developments in Bayelsa State. The meeting, which was held in Lagos, had in attendance, the commanders of NNS Delta, NNS Obura and NNS Kainwa.


The deployment of troops caught many residents by surprise as they woke up yesterday morning to see heavily armed soldiers in battle fatigue, and riot policemen, mounting road blocks and parading the streets of the state capital. The troops were given aerial cover by military helicopters that hovered over many parts of the state capital, particularly Creek Haven, the seat of the state government.     


Although the Public Relations Officer of the joint military task force, Major Said Hammed, told THISDAY in a telephone interview that the troops were deployed to curtail alleged harassment of innocent citizens by private security men of the governor, Alamieyeseigha attributed the development to Bayelsans who sent petitions to the Federal Government.


Speaking during a meeting with the state Command Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Hatiz Ringim, at the police headquarters in Yenagoa, Alamieyeseigha who drove himself in company of some Ijaw youths, who had taken over his security since his security operatives were withdrawn by the Federal Government, asked the people to be calm and remain law abiding.


Apparently unperturbed, the governor, who retired from the military as a squadron leader, had before his meeting with the police commissioner visited Ovom, the heart of the state capital, to see things for himself.


Speaking in his native tongue, he told the crowd that trooped out to welcome him that he came to ascertain the circumstances of the shoot-out, which was said to have occurred in the area minutes before his arrival.


Earlier in the day, his Press Secretary, Mr. Preye Wariowei, had condemned the deployment of troops, saying it was part of the Federal Government's plan to precipitate public unrest in the state.


'Clearly, the presence of the troops confirmed the long standing speculation in the public mind of a conscious attempt by the Federal Government to provoke unrest in the state to justify the proclamation of a state of emergency, and consequently occasion the removal from office of His Excellency, Chief Diepreye Alamieye-seigha, Executive Governor of Bayelsa State," he said in a statement.


But the joint military task force's Hammed said the troop deployment was a preemptive action to forestall the breakdown of law and order as there were security reports that some youths, allegedly in military uniform, who were parading themselves as security guards to the governor were terrorising persons perceived to be his opponents.


'The troops have been deployed in the state capital to contain any crisis," he said firmly, adding that the action had reassured innocent citizens who were being molested that their security would be guaranteed by the Federal Government.


Wariowei, however, dismissed Hammed's explanation as an afterthought, saying there was no justification for the deployment of troops because the state had been calm since the return of Alamieyeseigha from London.


Accusing the Federal Government of bad faith, he said, everything being done was targeted at creating a crisis situation in the state, alleging that the EFCC, a federal agency, had not only seized the state Accountant-General, Mr. Stephen Enamamu, but had also frozen all its accounts with some commercial banks.


 'In a democratic government, which professes to place great store on due process, this latest act of intimidation and coercion amounts to a negation of all known tenets of democratic governance," he said, adding that despite the Federal Government's actions, his boss remained committed to maintaining the peace and security of the state.


 The soldiers, who came in scores of military trucks mounted several checkpoints along the major streets of Yenagoa, causing traffic jam as they subjected motorists and passersby to serious checks.


 Passengers in commercial buses were asked to disembark and open their luggage for scrutiny while those who were stubborn were either flogged with horsewhips or asked to frog jump. The Yenagoa correspondent of THISDAY, Mr. John Iwori, was not spared as the soldiers, who were armed to the teeth, asked him to climb to the roof of his car as he drove along Yenagoa-Etegwe-Tombia-Amassoma Road.  His explanation that he was a reporter with THISDAY on assignment to Amassoma did not restrain the soldiers from subjecting him to inhuman treatment.


 Soldiers were also deployed in the governor's hometown, Amassoma, in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, and Amabolou in Ekeremor Local Government Area.


 

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