We must know those who refunded money — Aborisade

HUMAN rights activist and lawyer, Comrade Femi Aborisade, was a leading figure in the pro-democracy movement in the early nineties and was the National Secretary of the Joint Action Committee of Nigeria (JACON), which organized and unified Nigerians’ resistance to the military. In 1994, along with Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN, he helped form the National Conscience Party. Excerpts:

By Bartholomew Madukwe

WHAT is your reaction to the refusal of the administration to publish names of those who returned money to government?

On June 4, 2016 the Federal Government published the values of recovered cash loot, various sums involved in final forfeitures, interim forfeitures in local and foreign currencies and a list of 239 non-cash loot comprising farmlands, plots of land, vehicles, maritime vessels, completed and uncompleted buildings, between 29 May 2015 and 25 May 2016.

However, the identities of persons from whom the recoveries and forfeitures were collected were not disclosed, contrary to repeated promises made by the regime to name and shame former public officers who had looted public vaults.

Femi Aborisade

Some persons, including Professors of law, have attempted to rationalize the non-disclosure of the names of persons from whom the recoveries were made and those involved in interim and final forfeitures, arguing that premature disclosure of names would have been illegal on the ground of likelihood of claims of damages for defamation; but none of those who share this opinion have gone ahead to cite the provisions of the law that would have been violated if Mr. President or any other arm of government named and shamed those who voluntarily made returns or have been made to suffer forfeitures.

Without doubt, the failure of the Federal Government of Nigeria to disclose the names of persons who voluntarily returned looted cash and those who have suffered asset forfeitures either on interim or final basis shows that the PMB/APC regime is succumbing to pressure in the fight for probity and transparency in the handling of public affairs. In the context of the fact that the identity of some other persons and the sums they allegedly looted had been disclosed before commencement and conclusion of their trials, the latest attitude of the regime amounts to double standards.