BY Dyepkazah Shibayan
Aliyu Abdullahi, spokesman of the senate, says the federal government has been losing corruption cases because Itse Sagay, chairman of Presidential Action Committee on Anti-Corruption (PACAC), has failed in his advisory capacity.
Abdullahi said this in reaction to Sagay’s comment that the 8thassembly has not passed “a single bill” promoting the anti-corruption war.
The PACAC chairman also accused the lawmakers of being in office for themselves, not the people.
But in a statement on Thursday, the senate spokesman advised Sagay to do more work and talk less “because media prosecution would not win the war against corruption”.
“With an easily excited man like him as head of an advisory body, the nation has continued to lose anti-corruption cases in courts due to the failure of his advice,” the senate spokesman said in a statement.
“He needs to do more work and talk less because media prosecution cannot win the war on corruption.
“Sagay could not even check the records before proclaiming that ‘the national assembly has not passed a single bill for the promotion of anti-corruption war since it commenced business in July 2015′.
“First, the 8th national assembly was inaugurated on June 9, 2015 not July. Also, it is on record that the senate has passed the whistle blowers’ protection bill, witness protection bill, mutual legal assistance in criminal matters bill and the Nigerian financial intelligence agency bill.
“This man talks like a man who is constantly under the influence of some substance and perhaps possessed as he employs the language of a tout with no civility. He is probably constantly excited and incensed by the fact of having his first opportunity to find himself in the corridors of power.
“He pontificates and talks as if the war against corruption of the Buhari administration depends solely on him to survive. He once publicly attacked the attorney-general of the federation and accused him of not doing enough to prosecute the war.
“In the Lagos speech, he took a blanket swipe at the judiciary and rubbished that entire institution which he as a lawyer has the professional, ethical and constitutional duty to respect.
“This is a man who cannot stand for councilorship election and win. We challenge him to state what his contributions are in the election of our amiable President Muhammadu Buhari and what new ideas he has contributed to making the fight against corruption more effective since his appointment.”
He called on the president to caution Sagay “from further creating needless tension in the relationship between the executive and the legislature”.
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