Tijani Adeyemi
The Campaign for Democracy, (CD) has called on the Economic And Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practice And Other Related Offences Commission to beam their searchlights on the National Assembly members at both the upper and the lower legislative chambers.
Specifically, CD asked the anti-graft agencies to thoroughly probe the alleged bribery involving a ranking senator and 70 newly elected senators for the 10th Senate.
This is contained in a press statement made available to journalists in Abuja and signed by the Secretary-General, of Campaign for Democracy, Pastor Ifeanyi Odili.
According to him, the Media last week reported a meeting between a Senator and elected Senators when the sum of $10, 000 was allegedly shared with each of the 70 Senators in attendance.
“We have it through our impeccable source that some ranking Senators have started using their ill-gotten wealth to woe the returning Senators and the new members who have just received their certificates of return from the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC last week with dollars and other hard currencies in other to win their votes when electing principal officers of the NASS.
“If we allow these politicians to use the money to induce the newly elected members of the 10th National assembly, the nation will not get it right again.
“We are afraid that such practice could plunge the nation into another round of quagmire and the leadership of the National Assembly will not be able to join hands with the Executive to fight corruption headlong since they are products of corruption. It takes a corrupt Senator to lobby positions with money.
“We have reliably gathered that aspirants for the position of the Senate Presidency have started reaching out to both returning and newly elected Senators with a huge amount of hard currencies to get their vote on the assumption of office come June 2023”, he stressed.
The Campaign for Democracy, therefore, urged the EFCC and the ICPC to as a matter of urgency, swing into action and probe the disturbing phenomenon to save our nascent democracy.
The anti-graft agencies may also ensure that no Senator that is facing corruption charges or has pending cases in court is allowed to take a sensitive position in the 10th Senate.
They must all be thoroughly checked and cleared before they are allowed to contest any of these sensitive positions, most importantly, that of the Senate President.
Most worrisome, some of the Senators are still having cases at the courts ranging from money laundering and other corruption cases.
“This, we are poised to resist, if we must rid Nigeria of corruption which has become very endemic in our body system. We want Senators whose track records at the Senate are unblemished.
“We wonder why the aspirant who is already giving out dollars failed to queue behind the zoning arrangements which will give room for equity, fairness and Justice.
It also urged the anti-graft agencies to live up to people’s expectations by moving in and foreclosing any possibility of turning the 10th Senate into a den of corruption.
It stressed that the Senate presidency and other sensitive positions are not for sale if we want the nation to come out of its economic doldrum: stagnation or depression.
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