President Goodluck Jonathan
The
Presidency has again defended the state pardon granted a former
Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, saying he was
responsible for the high volume of crude oil export by the country.
“Alamieyeseigha is a foremost leader of
the Ijaw Nation, and his political and stabilising influence in that
region has impacted positively on the overall economy of the nation,
bringing crude oil exports from the abysmally low level of 700,000bpd to
over 2.4 million bpd,” the Presidency said through the Senior Special
Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Doyin Okupe.
Okupe, who also told journalists at a
news conference in Abuja on Thursday, that the former governor had
become remorseful since he came out of prison, described him as a
prominent player in the stabilisation of Federal Government’s amnesty
programme.
He said, “In truth, Alamieyeseigha,
since he left prison, has been working strenuously and silently to
assist the President (Dr. Goodluck Jonathan) stabilise the amnesty in
the Niger Delta.
“Therefore, it is obvious that,
Alamieyeseigha has been a major player since his release from prison in
ensuring that the blood that runs through the artery of the Nigerian
economy is not cut off.”
The PUNCH had reported
exclusively on Thursday that the pardon was granted because of the
amnesty and the President’s 2015 second term ambition.
Okupe, who also said the former
governor was not the first Nigerian to benefit from such pardon, named
the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the late Ikemba Nnewi, Chief
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, as earlier beneficiaries of such
gesture.
At the news conference, Okupe faulted
the manner in which Alamieyeseigha was removed from office before his
arraignment in court where he was convicted, saying “it was suggested
by many that the removal was not above board.”
Nevertheless, he said the former
governor had lost his position, forfeited the property he illegally
acquired and had also demonstrated enough soberness after he served his
sentence.
Okupe said it was out of place to
suggest that the pardon was tantamount to abandoning the fight against
corruption in the country.
This, he said, was far from the truth.
He went on to quote Lord Denning , whom he said, claimed that “the
purpose of punishment is not to destroy the offender but to reform him
and deter others.”
The presidential aide added that the controversy surrounding the pardon of the former governor was not expected.
He said that Jonathan’s action was not new, because other Presidents had done similar things while in office.
Okupe said, “President Bill Clinton
similarly ignited controversy when he pardoned Marc Rich, who was
charged, in 1983, with cheating the United States Government of nearly
$50m and doing business with Iran during the hostage crisis. Rich was
never tried as he fled to Switzerland to avoid prosecution.
“President George Bush perplexed a
majority of Americans when he pardoned six people from the
administration of his immediate Republican predecessor, Ronald Reagan,
in whose administration he was also the vice-president.
“The six Americans were under
investigation for their involvement in the Iran-Contra Affair, which
was a national scandal, involving selling of arms to Iran and using the
proceeds to fund Nicaraguan counter revolutionaries.”
He also praised President Jonathan for publicly claiming that the former governor was his political benefactor.
Okupe said this was a display of extreme
humility and honesty on the part of the President, adding that unlike
the case of the President, virtually all political benefactors usually
turn into enemy number one.
But the Environmental Rights Action
and the Forum For Justice and Human Rights Defence on Thursday joined
the growing list of groups and individuals that have flayed the pardon
granted Alamieyeseigha.
The Bayelsa State Project Officer, ERA,
Mr. Alaogoa Morris, and the National Coordinator, FJHRD, Mr. Oghenejabor
Ikimi, described the gesture as a national embarrassment and criminal.
Morris, who spoke to one of our
correspondents in Yenagoa, rued the development and said the country
had trivialised its war against corruption.
He said, “I am truly against the pardon
because it sends a very wrong signal to the world and, all Nigerians
must share in this huge embarrassment. It tells a lot about our
collective morality and it confirms that politicians have very little
value or nothing for morality.”
Ikimi said the action of the Federal
Government “is criminal, nonsensical and a tacit approval of official
corruption in the polity”.
While calling for immediate reversal of
the decision in the interest of good governance, Ikimi flayed Okupe’s
response as ridiculous.
He said, “We are not oblivious of the
fact that official corruption has brought our dear nation once referred
to as the giant of Africa to its present sorry state as exemplified by a
weak leadership, its weak public institutions, its poor public
infrastructure, massive youth unemployment, pandemic poverty and hunger
and an ever-worsening state of insecurity nationwide.”
PUNCH
No comments:
Post a Comment