A member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Board of Trustee member and former Senate President during Obasanjo's regime, Chief Adolphus Wabara said he was startled, and so was so many Nigerians when it was revealed that his party, the PDP spent so huge amount of United States Dollar in prosecuting the 2015 general election.
Wabara speaking with The Daily Sun Newspaper correspondent, IHEANACHO NWOSU, in an interview said he never had faintest idea that such money exchanged hands. he further said he believed many Nigerians are really startled that such amount of money in dollars in billions exchanged hands. I don’t think any Presidential election in any part of the world has spent the type of money that was spent in the last election in Nigeria on election. Everybody more or less participated in the booty. So, anybody found guilty should be prosecuted
"I never had the faintest idea that such money exchanged hands. I’m sure many Nigerians are really startled that such amount of money in dollars in billions exchanged hands. I don’t think any Presidential election in any part of the world has spent the type of money that was spent in the last election in Nigeria on election. Everybody more or less participated in the booty. So, anybody found guilty should be prosecuted," Wabara opined
On if the revelation destabilizes the PDP, Wabara said;
"I really don’t think it has. Don’t forget that you are innocent until proven guilty and that has to be in the court of law. That explains why you find the likes of (Olisa) Metuh before last Saturday, doing his job and all of them that have been mentioned so far are going around doing their thing, until maybe the day of judgment. In a criminal matter, the onus of proof is on the prosecution and it must be proven beyond all reasonable doubt for you to jail someone on a criminal charge. The EFCC, because of the enormity of their commitments, you find that they are not handling most of the matters professionally. We might end up having people escaping from jail on technical grounds."
On this questions:
You said you have no problem with the way they are handling the anti-corruption war so far. But some people have raised the issue of party funds; that the probe so far has not distinguished between party money and funds from the public coffers. Some have said that If you are probing public money, it should not be mixed with money that belongs to the political party, which the party used for election purposes. Don’t you see the EFCC is mixing these together?
"I don’t think they are bringing everything together. We are all Nigerians and we knew how much the PDP raised during the presidential campaign – about twenty something billion Naira, not dollars. But what we are hearing is different. If you subtract twenty something billion Naira from that, you will find that the whole thing is startling. But Buhari cannot get all the money that is involved, even if he is able to jail all them. I’m being very practical."
As you said, no one is guilty until proven guilty. Now, the same court had approved bail applications of some of these suspects, but none of it appears to enjoy the support of the arresting authorities. Is this in itself not an abuse of the process?
"There are two sides to a coin. I don’t want to believe that the EFCC or the ICPC will keep suspects unnecessarily. There was a case that they mentioned and they gave reasons why they were still keeping the person. That’s why they moved out of Abuja; they now obtained holding charge from Lagos. You cannot blame the judiciary for doing that. If they get court judgment to continue to hold someone, then you cannot fault that. It’s just that we are alarmists. We want things to happen now and I think people are also getting a little bit tired."
Wabara speaking with The Daily Sun Newspaper correspondent, IHEANACHO NWOSU, in an interview said he never had faintest idea that such money exchanged hands. he further said he believed many Nigerians are really startled that such amount of money in dollars in billions exchanged hands. I don’t think any Presidential election in any part of the world has spent the type of money that was spent in the last election in Nigeria on election. Everybody more or less participated in the booty. So, anybody found guilty should be prosecuted
"I never had the faintest idea that such money exchanged hands. I’m sure many Nigerians are really startled that such amount of money in dollars in billions exchanged hands. I don’t think any Presidential election in any part of the world has spent the type of money that was spent in the last election in Nigeria on election. Everybody more or less participated in the booty. So, anybody found guilty should be prosecuted," Wabara opined
On if the revelation destabilizes the PDP, Wabara said;
"I really don’t think it has. Don’t forget that you are innocent until proven guilty and that has to be in the court of law. That explains why you find the likes of (Olisa) Metuh before last Saturday, doing his job and all of them that have been mentioned so far are going around doing their thing, until maybe the day of judgment. In a criminal matter, the onus of proof is on the prosecution and it must be proven beyond all reasonable doubt for you to jail someone on a criminal charge. The EFCC, because of the enormity of their commitments, you find that they are not handling most of the matters professionally. We might end up having people escaping from jail on technical grounds."
On this questions:
You said you have no problem with the way they are handling the anti-corruption war so far. But some people have raised the issue of party funds; that the probe so far has not distinguished between party money and funds from the public coffers. Some have said that If you are probing public money, it should not be mixed with money that belongs to the political party, which the party used for election purposes. Don’t you see the EFCC is mixing these together?
"I don’t think they are bringing everything together. We are all Nigerians and we knew how much the PDP raised during the presidential campaign – about twenty something billion Naira, not dollars. But what we are hearing is different. If you subtract twenty something billion Naira from that, you will find that the whole thing is startling. But Buhari cannot get all the money that is involved, even if he is able to jail all them. I’m being very practical."
As you said, no one is guilty until proven guilty. Now, the same court had approved bail applications of some of these suspects, but none of it appears to enjoy the support of the arresting authorities. Is this in itself not an abuse of the process?
"There are two sides to a coin. I don’t want to believe that the EFCC or the ICPC will keep suspects unnecessarily. There was a case that they mentioned and they gave reasons why they were still keeping the person. That’s why they moved out of Abuja; they now obtained holding charge from Lagos. You cannot blame the judiciary for doing that. If they get court judgment to continue to hold someone, then you cannot fault that. It’s just that we are alarmists. We want things to happen now and I think people are also getting a little bit tired."
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