Nobody should leave the deserved impeachment of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to Senate President Obong Godswill Akpabio. He cannot see the importance. Nigerians should demand the removal or resignation of Tinubu for wanton disregard of the 1999 Constitution with which he was sworn into office and which he swore to uphold.
If Akpabio becomes an obstacle to the process he should be swept away with Tinubu.
Tinubu has got used to picking and choosing parts of the Constitution to obey. His appointments are riddled with examples of Tinubu’s abhorrence of federal character provisions, exclusion of parts of the country.
His financial opacity shows in big contracts, the likes of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
As Akpabio enables him to skip clear laws on financial management, he becomes bolder and blinded to the law. Tinubu now moves chunks of federal resources to wherever he pleases. His supporters are applauding what they call the Jagaban effect.
He is used to acting outside the Constitution before running to Akpabio for cover. An example is Tinubu appropriating N50 billion from forfeited cash with EFCC to the NELFUND – two years ago.
Maybe, because the challenge then was feeble, Tinubu has returned more brazenly to instruct EFCC to unlawfully move about N224 billion to the same NELFUND account for scholarships.
People are praising his good intentions, but he has no powers to appropriate the funds or spend them without the approval of the National Assembly.
Still acting lawlessly, he has asked that funds from unclaimed dividends and dormant accounts be used in funding NELFUND activities. Nobody knows how much these funds will yield.
Moreover, there are laws guiding the use of these funds. Has Tinubu amended them?
It was only after criticisms nudged him to momentary wakefulness that he asked the relevant agencies to look at laws that could ground his grand his constitutional disregard of the law.
Will mere criticisms rein Tinubu in or would Akpabio who considers the National Assembly his theatre for entertaining himself call Tinubu to order?
Tinubu’s desire will need amendment of several laws, including sections of the Constitution.
All finally forfeited cash (in Naira or foreign currencies) is deposited into the Federal Government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund account housed at the Central Bank of Nigeria. These funds form part of national revenues subject to appropriation and budgeting by the National Assembly not presidential orders.
Minister of Education, Dr. Alaba Alausa described Tinubu’s constitutional infraction as “presidential benevolence”.
“The president, in his benevolence, has now directed that all funds recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission be diverted to NELFUND to continue to support its funding,” Dr. Alausa announced. He used the right word – “diverted”.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole on a 25 October 2013 judgement in the contention between the Federal Government and the Delta State Government over ownership of the $15 million, which had been kept in the custody of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) since April 2007 after it was allegedly offered as a bribe to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, that once the money was forfeited, it belonged to the Federal Government.
The President of Nigeria is not the Federal Government.
Would Tinubu and his horde of advisers be aware of Section 80, Sub-section (2) of the 1999 Constitution which states: “No money can be taken out of the Consolidated Revenue of the Federation unless the Constitution charges the expense or the National Assembly authorises it through an Appropriation Act, Supplementary Appropriation Act, or Section 81”.
Could this move be part of the infinite powers the Tinubu administration craves?
Dr. Alausa said the Federal Executive Council approved a presidential directive that all unclaimed dividends from the Capital Market Trust Fund and the Dormant Account Trust Fund be channelled to NELFUND, to make the fund financially buoyant enough to meet its expanding obligations to Nigerian students.
FEC also approved that all unclaimed dividends from the Capital Market Trust Fund and the Dormant Account Trust Fund should be directed to NELFUND, so that NELFUND will be buoyant.
