A group of Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, Sunday, accused the ndependent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, over alleged delay in taking off of the Digital Swotch Over, DSO, project in Nigeria.
This was contained in a statement jointly signed by the President of Competent Governance for Accountability and Civic Trust, CGACT, Amb. Micheal Omoba and the Public Relation Officer, Comr. Godwin Oghenero Erheriene, and the Executive Director, Beyond Boundaries Legacies Leadership Initiative, BBLLI, Peter Odeh.
According to the group ICPC on Tuesday, 3rd of December, closed its case against the Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, Ishaq Kawu, Pinnacle Communication, and Sir Lucky Omoluwa.
“This followed the commission’s failure to produce their star witness who is the current Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. According to ICPC the minister was to appear as a prosecution witness before the Federal High Court in Abuja regarding the payment of N2.5 billion seed grant.
“We call on fellow compatriots and the critical stakeholders on this DSO (Digital Switch Over) to support the program for speedy completion rather than the unwarranted media trails and blackmails thereby defeating the aim of the DSO programme.
“It is so apparent that ICPC does not have a case against NBC/Pinnacle Communication as they are now running from pillar to post. On October 21, Justice Ogunbanjo- Giwa had threatened to close the case against the defendants if the ICPC fails to produce Alh. Lai Mohammed and a subpoenaed bureau de change operator in court as witness on December 3.
“On 3rd of December when the case was called, the prosecution counsel, Henry Emoreh, informed the court that though the case was for continuation of trial, however, “we intend to close the case of the prosecution and we are not calling any more witnesses”, it said.
Meanwhile, the group in the statement also called on the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to intervene in the matter.
“We call on the Honourable Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to please dabble into this crisis rocking this two Government agencies as ICPC keep wasting task payers money on a futile case, and to also help so that the DSO project can see that light of the day for the interest of the common man since President Muhammadu Buhari said his administration is for the common man on the street”, it added.
