ThE Anambra State government has accused the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), of allegedly being behind the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) move to put its State Governor, Willie Obiano, on its corruption watchlist.
The State Commissioner of Information and Public Enlightenment, C. Don Adinuba, alleged that the EFCC is supervised by the Office of the AGF and Minister of Justice while Malami had made efforts to frustrate the recent governorship election in Anambra State.
Adinuba, who spoke on Politics Today, a current affairs programme on Channels Television, on Thursday, stated that EFCC’s action is politically motivated.
According to the Commissioner, “nobody invited him (Obiano) to interrogate him or hear his own side of the story. No petition was presented to him. He did not make any comments. But all of a sudden, the EFCC announced rather secretly, using the media as a third party, to announce that he is being watched. That is very surprising. There is absolutely no reason for that. And worse, the EFCC gave the impression that the Governor wants to bolt away when he has a while four months to remain in office.
“It is unimaginable that a Governor will abandon a State a whole four months to the end of his tenure. That is surprising. It just does not make sense to anyone simply because the whole exercise is politically motivated.”
When asked who he was referring to, the Commissioner said, “I will repeat who these people are. The very people who did not want election to hold in Anambra State and had the audacity to tell the whole nation that the election was not going to hold for security reasons, without clearance with the President.
“Immediately the President got to know of this plot, he was alarmed and said ‘no, the election must hold in Anambra and it must be free and fair’. And the election actually became free, fair and transparent, and its outcome is in sync with the sentiments and expectations of the generality of not only Anambra people but all Nigerians.
“Consequently, Soludo’s victory became a national phenomenon. These people have tried everything possible to stop AGPA’s representative, Soludo, and consequently winning the election. They went as far as approving a Customary Court in Abuja to obtain summons – criminal summons – on Soludo. They went as far as arranging a kangaroo judgment from a High Court in Jigawa State over the chairmanship of APGA and more importantly the authentic candidate of APGA in the November 6 gubernatorial election in Anambra State.”
Barely one month to the Anambra State election, with the State bedeviled by daredevil gunmen who were wreaking havoc on public and private properties and killing individuals, Malami had threatened to declare a state of emergency over the State before the gubernatorial election.
Malami told journalists at the Presidential Villa, Abuja end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on October 6, 2021 that security has spiked across the State and the federal government will not allow hoodlums overtake constitutional order.
Said the Minister: “No possibility is out ruled by government in terms of ensuring the sanctity of our democratic order, in terms of ensuring that our elections in Anambra holds, and you cannot out rule possibilities inclusive of the possibility of declaration or state of emergency where it is established, in essence, that there is a failure on the part of the State government to ensure the sanctity of security of lives, properties and democratic order?”