The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has faulted comments attributed to the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Abubakar Malami, on the committee saddled with the responsibility of disposing recovered and forfeited assets suspected to be proceeds of crimes.
Malami had constituted a 22-member inter-ministerial committee to dispose of assets forfeited to the federal government.
The AGF had expressed confidence in the ability of the committee to carry out its responsibility.
However, HURIWA pointed out that the committee can’t be trusted to dispose of the assets in a transparent and accountable manner.
HURIWA, in a statement jointly signed by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko and National Media Affairs Director; Miss Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA raised doubts over the ability of the committee to judiciously use the money raised from sales of forfeited assets.
According to the rights group: “The committee is simply a creation of a contraption whereby sycophants and politicians of the All Progressives Congress are allowed avenues to line their pockets with filthy lucre.
“We also expressed strong doubts that the money to be recouped from the sales of those forfeited assets will be appropriately channeled to strategic national projects to give the largest benefits to the greatest number of the Nigerian citizens because the current administration that has constantly gone for foreign loans without providing explanation on what it has done in the last 5 years with the huge revenues generated by some government agencies.”
The rights group also condemned “Malami’s inordinate interest to supervise the sale of these items.”
The group noted that Malami is an interested party in the power tussle that led to the suspension of Ibrahim Magu, suspended acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
“The Committee supervised by the AGF cannot be trusted to do the right thing since the AGF is an interested party in the power struggle in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission involving Ibrahim Magu, the suspended Acting Chairman of EFCC,” the right group added.
