PLATEAU SPEAKER LALONG WRITES TO ATTORNEY-GENERAL OLUJIMI

hief Akinlolu Olujimi, SAN

Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Abuja

                         Re-allegations of criminal offences against Governor Joshua Dariye

Dear Attorney-General and Minister of Justice:

Reference is hereby made to your letter No. HAGF/JD/2004/VOL.1 of 10th November 2004 on the above subject matter.

After extensive deliberations by this Hon. House on 24th November, this House resolved as follows:

• That the House of Assembly of Plateau State has taken due notice of the contents of letter of 10 November, 2004, which was addressed to the Honourable speaker of the House by the Attorney General of the Federation, detailing allegations of criminal offences levelled against Governor Joshua Dariye by the British Government.

• It is particularly noteworthy that the Attorney General claims that the British Government is the one making these allegations of criminal offences against the head of one of the constituent states in the Federation of Nigeria, a government as sovereign as the Federal Government, each with its constitutionally assigned sphere of power and jurisdiction.

• The House shares with Mr. President the noble commitment to the maintenance and enforcement of the highest standard of public probity and accountability in the public service through out Nigeria.

• The House is however constrained to underscore the fact that its utmost priority in the immediate aftermath of the termination the six months state of emergency declared in Plateau State by Mr. President is to deploy its energy and resources in furtherance of the peace process in the state.

• The House reminds the Honourable Attorney General that the constitutionality of its suspension in the context of Mr. President's declaration of a state of emergency in Plateau State is subjudice in the Supreme Court.

The allegations of corrupt enrichment, owning and operating foreign bank accounts and other alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct Bureau levelled against Governor Joshua Dariye are also subjudice in the Code of Conduct Tribunal and the Federal High Court Abuja.

• The House regrets that even though the matter before the Code of Conduct is being prosecuted by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, the Honourable Attorney General chose to take a matter which is subjudice to the public domain through video shows and the publication of the full text of his letter ton the Honourable Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly in the media even before Mr. Speaker received his own copy of the letter. In the light of this development, the House:

• Calls upon the Honourable Attorney General to put in the public domain all information relating to:

• All cases prosecuted by the office of the Attorney-General before the Code of Conduct Tribunal;

• All cases in which the Honourable Attorney-General entered a nolle prosequi and all such cases pending before the Code of Conduct Tribunal;

• Calls upon the Code of Conduct Bureau to put in the public domain, the details of the assets declaration of all public officers from Mr. President to the least public officer in the Federation;

• Calls upon the Federal Government to widely disseminate the latest report of Transparency International, which rates Nigeria as the third most corrupt country in the world and provide a forum for enlightened debate on the way forward;

• Calls upon the Federal Government to approve and release the report granting full financial autonomy to the state and National assemblies to enable the legislature perform properly their oversight functions on the executive arm;

• Calls upon the international community to assist the Nigerian Government in its anti-corruption crusade by furnishing information about illegal offshore financial transactions of all Nigerian public officers.
 

Sincerely:

Honorable  Simon Lalong

Speaker, Plateau State House of Assembly

Jos, Plateau State

Cc:

British High Commission, Abuja;

The Senate President, Chief Adolphus Wabara;

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Masari

Read the initial letter from the Attorney-General to the Speaker