Admin l Saturday, July 07, 2018
IKEJA, Lagos, Nigeria – A constitutional lawyer and human rights crusader, Inibehe Effiong has criticised Executive Order 6 recently signed into law by the President Muhammadu Buhari. The new law targets the assets of no fewer than 11 former governors, ministers and other politically exposed persons, who served in the country between 1999 and 2015.
Buhari who signed the Executive order 6 in the State House, said he chose to do so in view of the necessity to stop owners of such assets from further using their proceeds to pervert the cause of justice or sponsor acts that can be injurious to the state. He described the order as a platform for counter-attack.
“It has thus become necessary to re-kit and re-tool our arsenal to be able to effectively tackle corruption’s perilous counter-attack against the Nigerian state. Accordingly, the Federal Government of Nigeria has declared a national emergency to deal with that crisis. In this regard, the Federal Government of Nigeria in line with its anti-corruption strategy seeks to ensure that the ends of justice is not defeated or compromised by persons involved in a case or complaint of corruption.
“It is in consequence of this that I have decided to issue the Executive Order No. 6 of 2018 to inter alia restrict dealings in suspicious assets subject to investigation or inquiry bordering on corruption in order to preserve such assets from dissipation, and to deprive alleged criminals of the proceeds of their illicit activities which can otherwise be employed to allure, pervert and/or intimidate the investigative and judicial processes or for acts of terrorism, financing of terrorism, kidnapping, sponsorship of ethnic or religious violence, economic sabotage and cases of economic and financial crimes, including acts contributing to the economic adversity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and against the overall interest of justice and the welfare of the Nigerian State,” the president said, adding that available records have shown that the aggregate value of funds allegedly stolen on which prosecution is being conducted is N595,409,838 billion, saying the figure exceeds the N500 billion appropriated for Social Investment Programme in the 2018 budget.
Commenting on the Executive Order 6, Inibehe Effiong said the Executive Order No. 6 of 2018 signed by Muhammadu Buhari will not and cannot stand the test of constitutionality.
According to him, Section 44(1) of the Constitution is clear: “only an Act of the National Assembly can deprive a person of his property in pursuance of criminal investigation and prosecution”, he said.
He explained that the current Attorney General of the Federation is possibly the worse in history.
“Buhari may be ignorant of the law but not the Attorney General. The President cannot usurp the judicial powers of the Court under Section 6 of the Constitution through Executive Order. It is illegal”, he said, adding that presumption of innocence is a fundamental right guaranteed by Section 36(5) of the Constitution.
“This government keeps sending signals that it is populated by ignorant people who do not know what they are doing. It is rather sad the the Vice President is a Senior Advocate of Nig.”, he said.
