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ICPC has no case against
Dariye, says Akanbi
By Dan
Alo
Correspondent, Lagos
Contrary to widespread belief
that all machinery of the state instituted to fight corruption has been
marshalled to probe the embattled Plateau State Governor, Chief Joshua
Dariye, Justice Mustapha Akanbi, Chairman of the Independent Corrupt
Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) said it has no
intention to probe the governor.
Speaking on Tuesday with
Daily Independent at the 74th posthumous
birthday and launch of the Bola Ige Centre for Justice organised by the
Progressive Youth Alliance in Lagos, Akanbi said, �ICPC is not an
investigating machinery but a prosecuting one, even when you stop
prosecution you cannot stop investigations.�
He added that �as it is, no
one has written us or alleged that Dariye was involved in any financial
misappropriation and as such we are not probing Dariye saying �I think the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is the one investigating
and may be willing to press charges against him�.
According to Akanbi most of
our problems in this country will be solved if we all resolve to live
honestly, emulating the ideals of Bola Ige and what he lived for, in fact
we will not need any ICPC if we can copy Bola Ige�s
lifestyles�.
He said, �I want to be
remembered as the first judge to bring serving minister, judges, medical
officers to book for corrupt practices. In fact, the case of Chief Sunday
Afolabi was a test case for how committed we were to the issue of fighting
corruption in this country, he was close to me, my senior in secondary
school and yet we brought him before the law court for charges of
corruption, we need the support of the entire country to succeed in this
fight�.
He said �the commission is not
an instrument of witch hunting in the hands of anybody, don�t forget I was
the President of the Appeal Court for more than 20 years with over 37
years of experience. What do I stand to gain to be used by anyone to hunt
down political enemies. I will rather not hold any position than to lose
my honour.�
He advised that any known case
of corruption with proofs should be forwarded to his office for immediate
action. His words �people should be bold, feel free, make use of even
suggestion boxes in our offices to report cases of corruption in the
country and we will make use of it.
He thanked those that have
used this avenue to give the commission useful information adding that
�compared to just 40 cases reported in 2000 and 250 last year, we have
received over 400 cases this year and 88 of them have been taken to court
,I have over 47 judges working with me and we will pursue this cases to
conclusive end�.
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