CUPP, in a statement issued on Tuesday, said that there was no excuse valid enough for committing those two errors of judgment by the EFCC on the day the former governor reportedly submitted himself to the commission.

The statement was signed on behalf of the Coalition by 10 members of its Media, Strategy, Steering, Financial Contact and Mobilisation Committees and made available to newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja.

Signatories to the statement include Barrister Emeka Igwe; Alhaji Hamisu Santuraki; Prince Frank Ukonga; Prof. Godswill Nnaji; Alhaji Takai Adamu; Amb. Abah Lewis; Chief Abayomi Runsewe; Mrs. Grace Ishaku; Mrs. Gift Yusuf and Mayor Japhet Anyanwu.

The CUPP statement reads: “It is with utmost disappointment that the Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, has viewed the ongoing drama between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.

“We are aware that there has been some inexplicable back-and-forth between the EFCC and the former Governor for some months now, which has generated considerable public interest across Nigeria. Not a few Nigerians have been eager to see the day that the former Governor would be brought in to defend the allegations of humongous corruption allegations levelled against him by the anti-graft agency.

“The commission went all out to declare him wanted and put him on an international watchlist with the assistance of the INTERPOL that anywhere he was found he was to be promptly arrested.

“It is quite intriguing that the same man you have been hunting for, walked into your headquarters in Abuja and you let him walk away without as much as interrogating him under the pretext of some extremely ridiculous and flimsy excuses, one of which was that he came with a sitting Governor among others.

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“A smart and intelligent head of a security agency like the EFCC would have tactically taken the former Governor into custody without much ado. But, clearly, the current leadership of the EFCC is totally clueless about the masterful art of intelligent policing. An agency like the EFCC is way above his training as a legal practitioner.

“When the current chairman of the EFCC was appointed, many legal pundits pointed out that the office of EFCC’s chairman should legally be occupied by a serving or retired senior police or any security agency officer. All those observations fell on the government’s deaf ears. The result has been the reversal of the gains made in the past on the anti-corruption efforts of successive governments since the current leadership of the EFCC took office.

“If you couldn’t arrest the former Governor in the presence of his predecessor, why send armed operatives to the official abode of the same sitting Governor to start shooting in the middle of the night under the guise of you wanting to effect the arrest of someone who had earlier made himself available to you. That incident could have ended fatally with serious consequences for our democracy. It would have overheated the polity beyond control.

“There is no excuse valid enough in the world for committing those two errors of judgment by the EFCC. First, you let the man you declared wanted get away from your premises under a very suspicious game plan.

“Secondly, you later mobilized at night to go and effect arrest of the same man. EFCC needs to come out and tell Nigerians what they are hiding and their real interest and intentions on this matter.

“Everything looks suspect on this matter. Since Mr Olukoyede took over as EFCC chairman, it has been one controversy or the other. If it is not about EFCC operatives committing gross human rights abuses against Nigerians, it would be arrogant disrespect for due processes and Court orders.

“With this kind of leadership, the EFCC will remain handicapped to effectively fight corruption. It is in this regard that we sincerely feel that, if President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is truly desirous of fighting corruption in the country, the current EFCC Chairman should be sacked immediately and a real professional senior security officer from any of the real security agencies be appointed as replacement to avoid this type of local and international embarrassments that this chairman has brought to the current administration and the country at large.

“His is a case of a square peg in a round hole. The geometry can never align. What happened two days ago makes the insinuation that the former governor is being persecuted now believable, rightly or wrongly. These people should stop playing politics with our collective sensibilities. Enough is enough!”

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Solid Minerals Development Minister Dr. Oladele Alake made this disclosure in Doha, Qatar on Saturday at a meeting with Qatari businessmen on the sidelines of the visit of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the Arab country.

Responding to enquiries on the quality of Nigerian lithium by Qatari business mogul Sheikh Shahid Jawad at the meeting held at the prestigious Sheraton Doha, Alake said mineral exploration initiated by the federal government had identified locations where lithium occurs in commercial quantities in high grades.

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To buttress the disclosure, Alake recalled that on a visit to Australia, he was presented with samples of rock composites from Nigeria with high grade lithium content confirmed by laboratory analysis.

He said it showed that the quality of Nigerian lithium had been recognised by the global mining sector.

Encouraging Qatari businessmen to visit the country and witness the immense opportunities in mining, Alake said the Nigerian government had put in place generous, investor-friendly policies to facilitate business.

Also speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary of Solid Minerals Development Fund, Mrs Fatimah Shinkafi, urged investors to explore opportunities in mining infrastructures.

Giving the example of Vale, a mining company in Brazil that invested in trains to ease the transportation of minerals from the Mines to the processing towns, Shinkafi said while the government would continue to provide transportation facilities to the mines, mining companies that recognised the significance of transportation to their future cost control would invest wisely by supplementing government’s efforts.

Also giving the minister the update of its activities in the mining sector, the Vice- chairman of the Qatar- Nigerian Chamber of Business, Muhammed Santuraki, said the chamber was formed in 2017 to build business relations between both countries.

Recalling a recent visit to a gold mine in Nasarawa State, Santuraki observed the existence of good roads for the haulage of minerals to the ports.

Other businessmen at the top level meeting weŕe Sheikh El Jouneid, Chief Executive Officer, ETCC Qatar and Aminu Dahiru, chairman, Asdub Oil & Gas.

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