Prof. Babalola Borishade

A melodramatic twist has been introduced to the allegation of fraud and corrupt enrichment brought against former Aviation Minister, Professor Abraham Babalola Borishade as the Government tactically vacated the original ground of N19.6 Billion corrupt charges and introduced a new charge of €15,000.00 (Fifteen Thousand Euro) bribery allegation.

This is just as Professor Borishade in an interview with Pointblanknews.com offered himself as a guinea pig for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC to experiment its investigative competence in the fight against corruption.

The Government may also have bowed to pressure from legal experts that procedural errors were made in taking Professor Borishade and other accused persons to a Magistrate Court instead of a High Court. Borishade and others were charged at the Abuja High Court last week. And in place of the original charge the Government now prefers a fresh €15,000 bribe allegation.

Professor Borishade denies the fresh allegation and said “I am willing to make myself a guinea pig in the hands of the EFCC.”

According to him, “I believe some people wants to show the public that they are working and the only way to show it is to arrest high profile people and that is what they have done,” the former Aviation Minister told Pointblanknews.com

According to Pointblanknews.com sources, the inconsistencies in the process of Prosecution and the allegations against Borishade and co is now stoking accusations of witch-hunt and insincerity against the Presidency, that it pushed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC to scape-goat Borishade for his alleged close relationship with former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Also, Borishade was rumored to have been marked down for allegedly going to Obasanjo to snitch against President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, thereby fanning the seeming unhealthy relationship between the former President and the incumbent.

The EFCC was said to have found a strong nexus in the government crack down on Borishade to also further its own desire to galvanize a desperate legitimacy for its new leadership which had enjoyed distrust from a broad spectrum of Nigerians over the unceremonious way in which the former chairman, Nuhu Ribadu was removed.

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Although, it was believed that Borishade arrest may have been sanctioned from the highest level, competent observers of EFCC’s operations said that junior cadre officials at the commission were the one who silently executed the bidding of the Presidency.

However, in an interview with Pointblanknews.com over the weekend, Borishade said that he firmly believes in the rule of law and due process. He said that he could not link his travails to anyone in particular but that he is willing to make himself available to the country as a Guinea pig for the experiment on the competence of EFCC to carry out honest investigation.

“I believe in the rule of law. I would not attribute my travails to anyone. I am close to President Yar’Adua just as I am close to former President Obasanjo. I am willing to make myself a guinea pig in the hands of the EFCC,” the former Aviation Minister said.

Borishade said that he is not a man known for influence peddling, “I have not seen President Yar’Adua in the last six months. I remain very close to the family. I have spoken to former President Obasanjo about my travails and he is aware of all the intrigues.”

The former Aviation Minister who was also at one time the Chief Political Strategist to the late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, brother to president Umaru Yar’Adua, explained that the €15,000.00 bribe being alleged was actually spelt out in the terms of contract as obligatory cost of hotel accommodation to be provided by the contractor while he and his team visited Austria to determine the technical capability of Avsatel Communications Ltd.

He agreed that “even though both President Yar’Adua and former President Obasanjo are aware of the present situation I have not and would not request their intervention as I am not going to lower the importance of the office of the President. The President is about rule of law and I want him to maintain his stance on that.”

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