Members
of the anti-corruption network protesting the light sentence given to
an Assistant Director, Police Pension Office in Abuja ... on Wednesday.
Members
of civil rights groups marched on the premises of the Ministry of
Justice, the National Assembly and the Supreme Court in Abuja on
Wednesday as they protested the light sentence imposed on a former
Assistant Director of the Police Pension Office, Mr. John Yakubu Yusuf,
who admitted conniving with others to defraud the PPO and pensioners
of N27.2bn.
They demanded the investigation of
Justice Abubakar Talba of an Abuja High, Court for sentencing Yusuf
to only two years imprisonment with an option of N750,000 fine.
Yusuf was, however, rearrested and
rearraigned on Wednesday by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission for willfully “failing to disclose his interest in a private
company known as SY-A Global Services Limited.”
But just as another Abuja High Court
remanded the convict in prison custody till March 1, the civil rights
groups’ members and students numbering over 200 reminded the National
Assembly, the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court of Justice
Talba’s past judgments.
The protesters, who are members of the
Anti-Corruption Network, National Association of Nigerian Students and
Association of Unemployed Youths of Nigeria, wore black T-shirts and
carried placards and banners with different inscriptions.
By 10:30 am, they had convereged on the
Justice Ministry and barriccaded the gates and later moved to the
Supreme Court and the National Assembly, asking for a retrial of Yusuf’s
case and the sanctioning of Justice Talba, among others.
Some of the inscriptions on the banners and placards read, “Judiciary is the hope of the highest bidders”, “Egunje don spoil
judges”, “Same Justice Talba did Kenny Martins fine”; “the blood of
dead pensioners will hunt commercial judges” and “Talbanism: N32bn =N75,
000!!!,” “Bad Maths”, among others.
The Executive Secretary of the ACN and
former member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dino Melaye, who led a
convoy of power bikes, said President Goodluck Jonathan, members of
the National Assembly, leadership of security agencies and others in
leadership positions must realise that Nigerians were tired of
corruption.
He said, “We are collaborating now with
Nigerian students and others interested in fighting corruption and part
of our strategy is to ensure that we shout barawo (thief) in the North; ole (thief) in the South-West; and Onyeoshi (thief) in the South- East on corrupt people.”
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