Jonathan directs Adoke to arraign subsidy thieves

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday formally handed over the House of Representatives report containing details of the looting of the N1.7trn subsidy fund to the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Muhammed Adoke, SAN. The President directed the minister to prosecute all those found culpable.

Jonathan said there would be no sacred cows but asked Adoke to ensure a thorough investigation of the House findings.

Adoke, who spoke to State House correspondents shortly after receiving the report from the President, said he would promptly carry out Jonathan’s directive by forwarding the report to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for proper investigation.

Brandishing a copy of the report, the minister recalled that at the beginning of the probe, the President had promised the nation that the Federal Government would investigate properly to ensure that only the guilty were punished.

He said, “We don’t want situations where we are stampeded to initiate prosecution and we are unable to prosecute due to lack of or paucity of evidence.

“Now we have to ask the EFCC to do a thorough job as they have been doing and this report will help them tremendously. I have a specific instruction from the President that we should investigate and we should prosecute.

“I can assure you that we will prosecute all those that are found culpable. There will be no sacred cows. I am with a copy of the report. We are not going to victimise anybody, we are going to do this without sentiments and whoever is found guilty we are going to arraign him before a court of law and prosecute. If there is no enough evidence to prosecute anybody, we are not going to persecute anybody.”

Adoke said the investigation and prosecution would be done in the best interest of the country and without fear of intimidation from any quarters.

The subsidy scam report had elicited public outrage against government agencies and oil firms said to have been involved in the mismanagement of the nation’s wealth.

The indicted agencies include the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, Department of Petroleum Resources, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation and some oil marketing companies.

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