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| President Goodluck |
The Presidency has again defended the state pardon granted a former Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, saying he was responsible for the high volume of crude oil export by the country.
“Alamieyeseigha is a foremost leader of the Ijaw Nation, and his political and stabilising influence in that region has impacted positively on the overall economy of the nation, bringing crude oil exports from the abysmally low level of 700,000bpd to over 2.4 million bpd,” the Presidency said through the Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Doyin Okupe.
Okupe, who also told journalists at a news conference in Abuja on Thursday, that the former governor had become remorseful since he came out of prison, described him as a prominent player in the stabilisation of Federal Government’s amnesty programme.
He said, “In truth, Alamieyeseigha, since he left prison, has been working strenuously and silently to assist the President (Dr. Goodluck Jonathan) stabilise the amnesty in the Niger Delta.
“Therefore, it is obvious that, Alamieyeseigha has been a major player since his release from prison in ensuring that the blood that runs through the artery of the Nigerian economy is not cut off.”
The PUNCH had reported exclusively on Thursday that the pardon was granted because of the amnesty and the President’s 2015 second term ambition.
Okupe, who also said the former governor was not the first Nigerian to benefit from such pardon, named the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the late Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, as earlier beneficiaries of such gesture.
At the news conference, Okupe faulted the manner in which Alamieyeseigha was removed from office before his arraignment in court where he was convicted, saying “it was suggested by many that the removal was not above board.”
Nevertheless, he said the former governor had lost his position, forfeited the property he illegally acquired and had also demonstrated enough soberness after he served his sentence.
Okupe said it was out of place to suggest that the pardon was tantamount to abandoning the fight against corruption in the country.
This, he said, was far from the truth. He went on to quote Lord Denning , whom he said, claimed that “the purpose of punishment is not to destroy the offender but to reform him and deter others.”
The presidential aide added that the controversy surrounding the pardon of the former governor was not expected.
He said that Jonathan’s action was not new, because other Presidents had done similar things while in office.
Okupe said, “President Bill Clinton similarly ignited controversy when he pardoned Marc Rich, who was charged, in 1983, with cheating the United States Government of nearly $50m and doing business with Iran during the hostage crisis. Rich was never tried as he fled to Switzerland to avoid prosecution.
“President George Bush perplexed a majority of Americans when he pardoned six people from the administration of his immediate Republican predecessor, Ronald Reagan, in whose administration he was also the vice-president.
“The six Americans were under investigation for their involvement in the Iran-Contra Affair, which was a national scandal, involving selling of arms to Iran and using the proceeds to fund Nicaraguan counter revolutionaries.”
He also praised President Jonathan for publicly claiming that the former governor was his political benefactor.
Okupe said this was a display of extreme humility and honesty on the part of the President, adding that unlike the case of the President, virtually all political benefactors usually turn into enemy number one.
But the Environmental Rights Action and the Forum For Justice and Human Rights Defence on Thursday joined the growing list of groups and individuals that have flayed the pardon granted Alamieyeseigha.
The Bayelsa State Project Officer, ERA, Mr. Alaogoa Morris, and the National Coordinator, FJHRD, Mr. Oghenejabor Ikimi, described the gesture as a national embarrassment and criminal.
Morris, who spoke to one of our correspondents in Yenagoa, rued the development and said the country had trivialised its war against corruption.
He said, “I am truly against the pardon because it sends a very wrong signal to the world and, all Nigerians must share in this huge embarrassment. It tells a lot about our collective morality and it confirms that politicians have very little value or nothing for morality.”
Ikimi said the action of the Federal Government “is criminal, nonsensical and a tacit approval of official corruption in the polity”.
While calling for immediate reversal of the decision in the interest of good governance, Ikimi flayed Okupe’s response as ridiculous.
He said, “We are not oblivious of the fact that official corruption has brought our dear nation once referred to as the giant of Africa to its present sorry state as exemplified by a weak leadership, its weak public institutions, its poor public infrastructure, massive youth unemployment, pandemic poverty and hunger and an ever-worsening state of insecurity nationwide.”
Source: punch
Source: punch
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