A coalition of 259 anti-corruption, civil society and human rights groups, under the aegis of Coalition for Transparency and Economic Reforms (COTER), have called on President Tinubu not to allow anyone or groups to rubbish the credibility already secured for his administration in the international community through the invaluable works of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Special Investigator, Jim Obazee.
COTER told President Tinubu should not accede to the current shenanigans, malicious campaigns and unpatriotic requests by some individuals and groups in the country for the sack of the CBN Special Investigator.
Rather, the Coalition said the President should give an indefinite extension to the work of the Special Investigator and his team.
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It stated that President Tinubu should have expected the current fight back by corruption through the campaign of calumny now being launched against the person and office of the CBN Special Investigator, Jim Obazee.
The group, however said, no matter how highly placed these individuals and groups behind the attack on Obazee are, the President should discountenance their “inappropriate requests and demands for the head of the Special Investigator,” who had been conscientious in the national assignment given him to unearth the monumental corruption perpetrated by corrupt officials in the CBN and other government business entities in the past years.
COTER also urged President Tinubu to warn Presidency officials and other top Federal Government functionaries to steer clear of what the Special Investigator has been doing successfully since his appointment, which involves handling the very delicate and dangerous national assignment of investigating and recovery all the funds looted by powerful individuals from the CBN and other government agencies.
COTER, in a statement by its President, Dr Peter Chima Chukwu and General Secretary, Mallam Auta Ibrahim Koko, noted the allegations of high-handedness, undue intimidation and witch-hunt of top CBN officials and commercial banks executives against the Special Investigator and his team, whose mandate they alleged had since expired.
The coalition noted that the President should not give room for any intervention by any individual or groups in the functions of the Special Investigator.
COTER said: “Obazee has successfully been laundering the image of this country and the President Bola Tinubu-led administration internationally through his bold and courageous work as CBN Special Investigator.
So, some top Presidency and other top government officials cannot now come and attempt to usurp that office or the Special Investigator’s role through the malicious campaigns and demands through these faceless groups, after Obazee has taken all the risks to achieve so much in recovering funds from the Federal Government’s coffers and the vaults of the CBN.
“These top Presidency and Federal Government officials should face their own jobs, which they’ve yet to excel in and discharge effectively. They should stop being meddlesome interlopers. Unfortunately, the jobs Mr President gave these Presidency and top Federal Government officials, they’ve not done well in the first place.
“Who gave them the mandate to be demanding the Special Investigator’s sack? Certainly, President Tinubu didn’t do that. Our belief is that President Tinubu should not allow his administration to be forced or coerced by some unpatriotic and corrupt elements in government to thread the ignoble path of the previous administration.
“At least, there should be some decency in government this time round under President Tinubu. These corrupt Presidency and Federal Government officials speaking through these faceless groups should be stopped from meddling in the work of the Special Investigator.
“But if they refuse to be called to order, COTER shall not hesitate to mobilise all the true civil society groups in Nigeria against all of them.”
