The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and an NGO, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), have called for diligent prosecution of those indicted in the fuel subsidy probe report.
The groups made the call on Wednesday while reacting to the approval given by President Goodluck Jonathan to the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Mohammed Adoke, to prosecute the suspected culprits.
A whopping N1.7 trillion fuel subsidy money was alleged to have been misappropriated.
Mr Adebamigbe Omole, Chairman, NBA, Ikeja branch, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the president's directive was a welcome development.
Omole said it was now left for the AGF and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to do a thorough investigation of the allegations contained in the report.
“This is very vital because any missing evidence can impede the diligent prosecution of the cases.
The NBA chairman said Nigerians should not jubilate until the perpetrators were brought to book.
“Many people have been arraigned for corruption in the past and only a few of them were convicted. So, there is no reason to celebrate yet,’’ Omole said.
The Executive Director of SERAP, Mr Adetokunbo Mumuni, urged the president to exercise “a strong political will’’ to tackle corruption, particularly in the oil sector.
“It is a sound political move, but we are hoping that nothing will be done to truncate the process.”
According to him, the AGF does not require any presidential directive to prosecute those indicted by the report.
“ Mumuni said “By virtue of the provisions of the constitution, the AGF is the chief law officer of the land and he has the powers to initiate or stop the prosecution of any person.
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