It has been brought to my attention that my name was placed in what the
\nFederal Government of Nigeria describes as its “looters list”.<\/p>\n
I wish to make it abundatly clear that this is nonsensical and utterly
\nshameful and I hereby reiterate the fact that I am totally innocent of any
\nwrongdoing.<\/p>\n
The fact of the matter is that no “looters list” is complete without the
\nnames of Muhammadu Buhari, Yemi Osinbajo, Rotimi Ameachi, Tunde Fashola,
\nBola Tinubu, Lai Mohammed, Adamu Abdullahi, Dambazau, Kayode Fayemi,
\nBabachir Lawal, Maina, Maikanto Baru, Burutai, all APC Governors and other
\nkey members of the Buhari administration and the APC.<\/p>\n
The Federal Government claims thay I “looted” 800,000,000 naira from
\ngovernment coffers. This is false.<\/p>\n
I did not receive and neither was I ever given one kobo by any government
\nofficial, government agency or govermment parastatal during President
\nGoodluck Jonathan’s tenure.<\/p>\n
The money that I received was given to me by the Director of Finance of
\nthe Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Mrs. Esther Nenadi Usman, before the
\nelection in 2015 and it was specifically for the conduct of the
\nPresidential election.<\/p>\n
I was Director of Media and Publicity of the Campaign Organisation and it
\nwas used specifically and solely for the running and conducting of the
\nmedia and publicity aspect of the election.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Usman, who was Minister of Finance during the Obasanjo government,
\nwas neither a member of the Jonathan government and neither did she
\nmanage, handle or touch any government funds in her capacity as Director
\nof Finance of the Jonathan campaign.<\/p>\n
The money she made available to me came from a private company account
\nwhich was used to house contributions made to the Jonathan campaign by
\nparty supporters after a series of fundraising event.<\/p>\n
These were private funds and not public funds and neither can anyone
\nexpect us to have run an election in 2015 without any money. You do not
\nrun election campaigns with sand but with money.<\/p>\n
It is common knowledge that the Buhari campaign in 2015 was funded by
\nmoneys that can be traced directly to the state governments of Rivers
\nstate, Lagos state, Kano state, Ogun state and a number of other key APC
\nstates yet not one of those involved or that governed any of those states
\nat the time have been questioned, arrested or prosecuted by the EFCC or
\nthe Federal Government.<\/p>\n
It is also comon knowledge that President Buhari himself was offered and
\nreceived several benefits and received money from the office of the former
\nNational Security Advisor, Col. Sambo Dasuki, yet nothing has been done
\nabout this.<\/p>\n
From the foregoing it is clear that the Buhari administration’s so-called
\nwar against corruption is selective and punitive and it is nothing but a
\nvicious media trial and politically-motivated witchunt.<\/p>\n
It is nothing but a squalid and mafia-like attempt to muscle, discredit,
\ndemonise and sillence key members of the opposition. It is slanderous,
\nmalicious and unjust.<\/p>\n
If not for the fact that the Buhari administration is an irresponsible,
\nweak, desperate and corrupt government that has no confidence in itself
\nand no sense of decency how can they declare people that have not been
\nconvicted by any court of law as “looters”.<\/p>\n
Not only is this a violation of the constitutional provision that says
\nthat an accused person is deemed innocent until they are proved guilty by
\na duly constituted court of law but it is also highly prejudicial to the
\ncriminal cases that they are or may be facing.<\/p>\n
Apart from that it is a crude and sordid attempt to intimidate the judges
\nand influence the outcome of the cases which are before them and also to
\ncompel them to give the judgement that the government wants. This is not
\nonly unacceptable but it is also shameful.<\/p>\n
It is a clear violation of the concept of separation of powers which gives
\nthe judiciary alone the power to determine the guilt or otherwise of an
\naccused person.<\/p>\n
It is trite law that only a court of law can declare a man guilty or
\ndeclare him a thief or a looter and not Buhari and his government.<\/p>\n
How can anyone get a fair trial in a country when the government has
\nalready pronounced them guilty before the world?<\/p>\n
You cannot be the investigator, accuser, prosecutor and judge in your own
\ncase. This is a basic principle of criminal and constitutional law which
\nappears to have been lost on President Buhari and his cohorts.<\/p>\n
I don’t blame him: I blame Vice President Osinbajo who, as a Professor of
\nLaw and a learned SAN, should know better and who I am reliably informed
\nis the co-ordinator of all these politically-motivated, baseless and
\nmalicious corruption cases which are being conducted against opposition
\nmembers by the EFCC.<\/p>\n
He is the one that has been saddled with the shameless responsibility of
\nmanipulating the prosecutors, emboldening false witnesses, attempting to
\npressure the judges and attempting to send innocent men and women who are
\nmembers of the opposition to jail.<\/p>\n
One day, whether he believes it or not, there will be a reckoning for his
\nwickedness just as there will be one for Buhari and his entire government.
\nGod will see to that and He will judge and punish them.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile I reject the false label of “looter” and I hereby return it to
\nsender.<\/p>\n
I also deny all the charges that have been levelled against me by the
\nEFCC, I hereby restate my innocence and I shall continue to vigorously
\ndefend myself and my good family name in the court of law.<\/p>\n
I have no doubt that in the end my innocence will speak for me, God will
\nvindicate me and He will expose my accusers for the heartless monsters
\nthat they really are.<\/p>\n
CHIEF FEMI FANI-KAYODE<\/p>\n
It has been brought to my attention that my name was placed in what the Federal Government of Nigeria describes as its “looters list”. I wish to make it abundatly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n