‘Matawalle should clear his name of alleged corruption before investigating naval chief’
The decision of the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, to be at the forefront of investigation of the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogala over some yet to be substantiated allegations of wrong doing has been described as case of a kettle calling a pot black.
Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), stated this in a statement on Sunday.
“HURIWA believes that the petition against the Naval Chief is a calculated and orchestrated attempt to deny the Igbo states of any sort of representation in the national defence Council in which South West and North West are dominant members,” HURIWA said in the statement made available to PlatinumPost by its national coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko.
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Also, the rights group said there was more to that petition than the eyes have seen and that it bears clear semblance of a battle being instigated by those not in support of the job that the Nigerian Navy claimed to be doing in the area of stopping massive thefts of crude oil resources.
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“It may be a fight between forces of good and evil which is why that petition must be treated not by someone with questions of ethical challenges hanging on his neck like a sword of damocles.
“It is only in a Banana Republic will a Bello Matawalle, accused of theft of some 50 cars from Zamfara State on leaving office after an unsuccessful attempt to gain second term as governor of that state, and also have sundry allegations of heist of billions of Naira of his state’s funds by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to be the one championing an investigation of any sort of allegations against any public office holder in the country.
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” President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must stop disgracing us by retaining such a man with heavy ethical issues as a minister in a very sensitive portfolio and here us he trying to insult our sensibility by posing as an anti-graft campaigner,” the statement said.
Besides, HURIWA condemned Tinubu for appointing the erstwhile Zamfara State governor who allegedly “openly negotiated with terrorists and at a time actively canvassed for Amnesty programmes for armed Fulani terrorists and he is the same character heading such a very sensitive national security position as a minister in the Federal ministry of defence. This is preposterous and a crying shame.”
HURIWA recalled that a coalition of concerned Nigerians had sent a petition to Tinubu, raising serious allegations of crude oil theft, contract splitting, procurement fraud and corrupt practices against Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla.
“In a petition signed by prominent human rights activists and lawyers, Barrister Pelumi Olajengbesi, Comrade Deji Adeyanju, Comrade Mohammed Suleiman SK, Barrister Aisha Waliki, and Comrade Ogunwoye Samson, the coalition called for an immediate investigation into the conduct of Vice Admiral Ogalla, who it accused of engaging in large-scale corrupt practices.
“The coalition, which submitted the petition to President Tinubu through the Office of the Minister of State for Defence, Hon. Bello Matawalle, expressed deep concern over the alarming allegations.
“HURIWA carpeted the petitioners for directing their petition to Matawalle rather than the senior defence minister or straight to the President but comically decided to send it to a man who has perceived institutional moral burdens of his own. Does it mean that these campaigners in the civil society community do not read newspapers or they just dropped from the outer planet not to know or perceive the heavy and toxic stench of alleged corruption trailing the minister of State for Defence who has comically however assured that the allegations would be thouroghly investigated to ascertain the truth as it concerned the only Igbo military officer holding top commanding position under the Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government?” the statement said.
