Executive order 6 affects 155 graft cases worth N595.4bn — FG

The Federal Government said yesterday that the Executive Order Six recently signed by President Muhammadu Buhari would affect 155 corruption cases with N595.4bn involved.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who briefed journalists in Lagos on the new executive order, said contrary to the opposition by a section of Nigerians, the order is constitutional.

The order, signed by President Buhari on July 5, aimed to, among others, restrict dealings in suspicious assets subject to investigation or inquiry bordering on corruption and to deprive alleged criminals of the proceeds of their illicit activities which can otherwise be employed to allure, pervert and/or intimidate the investigative and judicial processes.

Defending the executive order, Mohammed said those opposed to it are the corrupt, who have become jittery, adding, “They have every reason to be. Henceforth, it won’t be business as usual.”

He said the huge amount involved cannot be discountenanced, adding that it is higher than the N500bn allotted to the Administration’s Social Investment Programme in the 2018 budget and the N344bn allocated for the construction and rehabilitation of roads nationwide in the 2018 budget.

According to him, the executive order became imperative to ensure that justice is not defeated or compromised by persons involved in a case or complaint of corruption.

The Minister reiterated that the executive order is constitutional and the President signed it in accordance with the powers vested in him under Section five of the 1999 Constitution, saying those opposed to it should go to court.

He stated that President Buhari is not the first democratically-elected President to issue Executive Order, saying former Presidents Shehu Shagari and Olusegun Obasanjo issued Executive Orders which could not be challenged.