On December 16, 2016, Malam Abdul Labaran, the spokesman of Governor Aminu Masari, was reported by newspapers in December 2016 as saying that the former governor of the state, Barrister Ibrahim Shema, would be arraigned in January by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged N11bn fraud when Shema was governor of the state. We are appalled at the fact that it is the governor’s spokesman who announced the impending arraignment of ex-Governor Shema.
From previous practices by the anti-graft agency, it is usually the spokesman of the EFCC, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, who informed reporters of upcoming court cases. But in this case, it is the Katsina State Government that is doing the talking for the EFCC. This means the government is not allowing the EFCC to do its own job, or that the sitting governor sees the prosecution of Shema as its dream achievement. What is happening is very unfortunate.
It is no longer news that Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina state has always made all shades of allegations against his predecessor, but if Masari has rein in the EFCC in this unwholesome task he has set for himself, the anti-graft agency will have itself to blame. The jail-Shema-at-all-cost-through EFCC- posture of the Masari administration is already rubbing off on the image and integrity of key institutions like the EFCC and Katsina state Judiciary. We are, therefore, calling on President Buhari and other well-meaning Nigerians to pay attention to the ongoing development in Katsina state.
Since his assumption of office in May 29,2015 as Governor of Katsina State, Masari has set up more than nine committees made up ofthe All Progressives Congress (APC) card-carrying members, with the sole mandate to find Shema and the officials of his administration guilty at all cost. The government has petitioned EFCC and ICPC, even when, at the same time, it has set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry headed by a serving Judge from Plateau state, Justice Mohammed Suraj Ibrahim, along with APC card carrying members .
It is on record that EFCC, ICPC and the Judicial Commission of Inquiry are all investigating the same allegations against Ibrahim ShehuShema and the officials of his administration simultaneously. As a result the EFCC declaredShema wanted on September 14, 2016, though the former governor was at his house in Abuja awaiting an appointment date with EFCC as requested by his lawyers since June 28, 2016.
Governor Masari’s Senior Special Adviser on Media, Abdul Labaran, in the statement, mentioned that the EFCC and Katsina state government had jointly dragged former Governor Shema and three others to a Katsina state court. This is the first time in the history of EFCC that a statement would be issued, saying the EFCC and a state government are jointly charging a suspect to court.
It is feared that with the kind of desperation being demonstrated by Katsina State Government, if eventually Shema is arraigned, he could be given a stringent bail condition that would necessitate his incarceration in Katsina prison, in order to humiliate the former governor.
We would call on the National Judicial Council to preempt any miscarriage of justice by any Katsina Court, by ensuring that the judges to handle the case be seriously screened. If the threats by Katsina State is carried out, no doubt, the outcome would impugn on the integrity of judicial officials as their interpretation of the law could be based on some form of motivation or event threats from the executive, and based on the principles of the Rule of Law. It is, therefore, pertinent for the National Judicial Council(NJC), National Human Rights Council, Foreign Missions in Nigeria and well-meaning Nigerians to watch closely and show interest in the illegality and injustice that Masari and his cohorts are planning against Shema and his former aides in the plan to drag them to Katsina state High Court for prosecution.
Hassan Bello,
Secretary, Movement ForJustice and Rule of Law,
KofarYandaka, Katsina
