Demand for the Sack of Nigeria's Attorney-General Michael Aondoakaa

Monday, 5th October, 2009

Alhaji Umaru YarAdua
President and Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces
Federal Republic of Nigeria
The Presidency
Aso Rock Villa
Three Arms Zone
Abuja, FCT
Nigeria

Your Excellency,

ON-LINE PETITION

WE DEMAND FOR THE IMMEDIATE SACK OF THE
MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION
MR. MICHEAL AONDOAKAA (SAN)


The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), a coalition of over 50 civil society organizations has been following with keen interest, the unethical utterances and actions of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Michael Aondoakaa (SAN) over the V-mobile shares, stealing and money laundering cases involving the immediate past Delta State Governor James Onanefe Ibori, and the fight against corruption in general. As a Minister in the temple of justice and the Chief Law Officer of this country, Aondoakaa is expected to uphold the law, but on the contrary, he has fussily used his office to truncate the fight against corruption and rule of law in the polity. Some of his gaffes since assumption of office are as follows:

1. Whittling down the prosecutorial powers of the Anti-Corruption Agencies especially the EFCC, ICPC and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), and constituting a cog in the wheel of progress of these agencies;
2. Refusal to prosecute those involved in international scandals involving Halliburton, Wilbross and Siemens that have been decisively prosecuted in other countries;
3. The unconstitutional removal of the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu from office to prevent the prosecution of his (AGFs) cronies;
4. Thwarting the case against Mr. James Ibori in a London Court over mere technicalities and publicly celebrating same;
5. Refusal to allow the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) release 25 of their operatives requested for by the Met Police to give evidence in the case of money laundering involving Ibori associates being prosecuted in a London court;
6. Readmission of the deported Vaswani brothers into Nigeria under shady circumstances; and
7. Unilateral reopening of The Honda Place, belonging to the Vaswani brothers without regards to due process and economic implications of such action; amongst others.

As if those are not enough, Aondoakaas recent statement that the EFCC has cleared former Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori and others over the V-mobile shares case is an attempt to cover them from criminal prosecution before a competent court of law, and to say the least, a brazen effort to thwart the course of justice, mislead the general public, and ridicule Nigeria in the comity of Nations. We would like to place on record that the so called certificate of clearance is a mere letter written to remove the caution earlier placed on the African Development Funds Inc. account pending the conclusion of the substantive cases of conspiracy, money laundering, abuse of office, and official corruption.

Section 6 of the EFCC Act, the African Union Treaty against Corruption and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) imposed an obligation on Nigeria to cooperate with partners under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT). Unfortunately, Mr. Aondoakaa in his usual characteristic in shielding corruption has arrogantly, and against your Excellencys advice, refused to cooperate with the British Government probing the former governor Ibori even under the aforementioned subsisting MLAT between the two countries. While Aondoakaa requested the US Justice Department to invoke this Treaty in the Halliburton Scam, in the same breath, he obstructed and rejected the request of Britain to invoke same Treaty in the case involving James Ibori. This is a clear testimony that Aondoakaa has a lot to hide which the probing of Ibori and others might reveal. Rather than being a Chief Law Officer, the Honorable Attorney General could at best be called a Chief Law Breaker and protector of corrupt leaders in Nigeria

Mr. President, we would like to state emphatically that the continued stay of Mr. Aondoakaa in your cabinet has dwindling effect in your most popularized Seven-Point Agenda. And speaking on behalf of majority of the Nigerian populace, the peoples confidence in your government is fast and finally eroding just as the sun on Aondoakaa has finally set in the eyes of the people. The embarrassment this AGF is causing Nigeria constitutes a clog in the wheel of your drive towards achieving your cherished Vision 20-20, 20 and the Ministry of Informations re-branding project. He is equally cascading Nigeria towards becoming a pariah country with his reluctance to cooperate with other civilized nations to fight the monster that corruption has globally become.

Your Excellency Sir, we would like to assure you of our unalloyed support toward restoration of your credibility in the fight against corruption which has been violently truncated by Aondoakaa and his cohorts. It is only the goodwill of Nigerian people that will guarantee and sustain your tenure in office and not the nauseating manipulation of processes and procedures of the Aondoakaas of this world. It is better to lose one of your eyes than to have the whole of your body cast into the hell fire so says the scripture.

It is for these reasons, among others that we hereby append our signatures to this petition, urging you to waste no further time in relieving Mr. Michael Aondoakaa, who has become an embarrassment to you and the government you lead, of his appointment as the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of our joint country, Nigeria.

Yours in service