The government said it acted in the best interest of Nigeria in putting the order into effect and would not pull it back as it was not peculiar to Nigeria but widely used phenomenon in other democratic countries of the world. Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, made the position of the government public while responding to enquiries by Vanguard , yesterday.
The minister said the administration was not surprised by the opposition to the order, knowing that some elements that had looted the country and plunged it into recession would be uncomfortable with the new direction. Although he did not mention Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which, on Friday, opposed the new order, Malami said no amount of blackmail and misinformation would make the government withdraw the order.
Malami said: “The Executive Order as signed by the President is not peculiar and exclusive to Nigeria as a democracy. Major democratic climes, including America and United Kingdom, have similar orders in place. In the US, you have Executive Order blocking the property of persons involved in human rights abuse or corruption, which was signed in 2017.
In the United Kingdom, you have Unexplained Wealth Order and Elimination of Corruption Order, among others. “In the Nigerian context, the Executive Order No 6 is not only legitimate in line with the tradition and context of the precedent obtained in major democratic climates but a constitutional obligation imposed by our constitution on the government to fight corruption.
It is only the enemies of anti-corruption with huge skeletons in their cupboards that believe in turning the hand of the clock back and rubbishing the gains made by the administration in the fight against corruption that will fight its application and operations.
The government will not succumb to the antics of those who plunged the country into security crisis, compromise our investigative and judicial process and subject our economy into unprecedented recessions “Corruption must naturally fight back and it is exactly what is unfolding by the resolve of the corrupt elements to fight the order.”
