released. In a statement released on Sunday
January 24th, Falana had attempted to link
Okonjo-Iweala to the $2.1 billion scandal, calling
for her arrest and prosecution Falana yesterday released a statement in reaction to what former minister of health said about him.
The statement reads
“When Prof Chukwuma Soludo alleged that about
N30tr could not be accounted for under her watch
he was described as “an embittered loser. When
comrade Adams Oshiomole questioned the illegal
withdrawal of $2bn from the Excess Crude
Account, he was accused of having animus
towards her because she had blocked Edo State
from obtaining a loan.
Therefore, instead of exchanging vulgar abuse
with the former Minister I shall respond to the
diversionary allegations which lacerated her
response and the attempt to extricate herself from
the mass looting of the commonwealth under her
watch.
The claim that I am unfamiliar with the mandate
of the ICC shows that Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala has not
been following the practice of the court and its
active and robust approach to its mandates, in
particular with regard to the investigation of
crimes in Darfur, the warrant of arrest for Joseph
Kony (Uganda), and the warrant of arrest for
Ahmad Harun, (Sudan).
In many decided cases, the ICC has expanded its
mandate to humanitarian issues, aimed at
forestalling and impeding the perpetration of
crimes which cause gross human rights abuse.
There is absolutely nothing in the Rome Statute of
the ICC to suggest that the court cannot address
impunity for enormous financial crimes (and its
crippling impact) which took place while Mrs.
Okonjo-Iweala was the Finance Minister and the
Coordinating Minister of the economy.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala also claimed that my petition
against her to the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) “were lacking in credibility”,
without any substantiation of what this means or
specific rebuttal of the allegations contained in
that petition. She has however not denied the
accuracy of the claims in my petition. Whereas
the former Finance Minister had insisted that only
$500 million was recovered from the Abacha loot
my petition detailed the recovery of $4 billion. As
she could not challenge my claim Dr. Okonjo-
Iweala now says that the $500 million was the
amount recovered while she was the Minister of
Finance under President Obasanjo. In making that
claim she did not take cognizance of her recent
statement that while she gave out $322 million to
Col. Dasuki the sum of $700 million had been set
aside for development. From her own account,
over $1 billion was recovered from the loot under
the Jonathan regime when she was coordinating
the economy.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has continued to give the
erroneous impression that she rendered selfless
service to the nation. But while her colleagues
who served as Ministers under President
Olusegun Obasanjo were paid their salaries and
allowances in the local currency she received hers
in dollars despite a judgment of the Court of
Appeal which had declared the payment illegal and
unconstitutional in the case of Fawehinmi v The
President (2007) 14 NWLR (Pt 1054) 275. In order
to weep up sentiments Dr. Okonjo-Iweala referred
to the unfortunate kidnap of her 84-year mother,
two years ago. But it is public knowledge that the
lumpen elements involved in the kidnap were
arrested by the Lagos State Police Command.
From the report of police investigation the
kidnappers were palace guards who were inspired
by sheer avarice. In fact, they were arrested by
the Police following the disagreement over the
sharing of the N12 million ransom paid to them
for the criminal enterprise. In the Appropriation
Act of 2011, the sum of N245 billion was budgeted
for fuel subsidy. But at the end of the year, Dr.
Okonjo-Iweala had authorized the illegal payment
of about N2.5 trillion to a cabal of fuel importers.
As usual, she washed off her hands like Pontius
Pilate. In order to unearth the monumental fraud I
petitioned the EFCC and gave oral testimony
before the House of Representatives Committee
which separately investigated it.
In the same vein, I have just asked the Group
Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation under the Freedom of Information Act
to provide information on the failure of the NNPC
to pay into the Federation Account the sum of
$9.7 billion out of the $11.8 billion dividends paid
by NLNG from 2004-2014. I have equally
demanded information from the NEITI over its
claim that the NNPC and some oil companies are
indebted to the Federal Government to the tune of
$19.1 billion. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s claim that I own
the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability
Project (SERAP) is far-fetched and laughable.
A simple google search would have shown her
that while I am one of the legal advisers of the
organization, there are other very distinguished
lawyers and academics of international repute on
SERAP’s board. Her claim that SERAP is
‘discredit’ is the exact opposite of reckless
characterization because it is an organization that
has won national and international recognitions—
including nomination for the UN civil society
award; the Ford Foundation Jubilee Transparency
Award; and the Wole Soyinka Anti-Corruption
Defender Award. It is my belief that the recovered
loot should be channeled towards job creation and
infrastructural development. Therefore, all hands
should be on deck to ensure that the recovered
loot is not criminally diverted by another set of
looters"
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