By Deji Elumoye
Former Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to
sign an Executive Order to activate the Unexplained Wealth Act and make the work of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) more efficient.
Ndume, who spoke with newsmen at the weekend stressed that the President had the constitutional right to issue the Executive Order which cannot be challenged in court adding that the Executive should also send a bill on the unexplained wealth to the National Assembly with a view to domesticating the Act.
He said: “If the newly appointed Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, is to work efficiently, a law on the unexplained wealth should be enacted. It is embedded in the EFCC Act but it is not enough. The law on unexplained wealth should stand alone and domesticated in our country’s laws. I don’t support plea bargain. I really think that the President should sign an executive order to make the new EFCC Chairman work effectively”.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army emphasised that he was against plea bargain system of resolving corruption issues saying whoever steals government fund must be made to face the music.
His words: “Anybody that’s steals government money must be dealt with. It is unfair to steal N100m from government coffers and return N80m in the guise of plea bargaining. Once the EFCC operatives see anyone flaunting a property or automobile that is beyond his income should ask him how and where he made his money. If such a person could not give sufficient and convincing explanation, the government should confiscate such property.
“Amnesty International spelt out how the unexplained wealth law works, maybe we should adopt it as a nation. If we are serious about fighting corruption in Nigeria, the unexplained wealth law should be enacted. There are so many luxury houses in choice areas all over the nation’s urban centres owned by people who ordinarily cannot afford to build such mansions based on their income. If such owners cannot explain it, they should forfeit it to government”.
