Few days after he threatened to make public the name of least
one of the alleged fraudsters in the Senate, Senator Nuhu
Aliyu on Monday made a U-turn, saying that though he stood
by his claims, he would only reveal the identities of those
involved to the Senate President and the Speaker of the House
of Representatives.
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Nuhu Aliyu
Photo By: Sun News Publishing |
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Aliyu, who is the chairman, Senate Committee on National Security
and Intelligence, also said that he would only honour the
House summons if he was compelled to do so by the Senate President,
David Mark.
This is, coming ahead of a meeting of the Senate Committee
on Ethics, Public Petition and Privileges, slated for Tuesday.
The committee was mandated by the Senate to probe the veracity
of Aliyu’s claims.
The former Deputy Inspector-General of Police, who walked
into the Senate press corps centre without prompting, also
said even if he appeared before the panel, he would not disclose
the identities of the suspected crooks masquerading as lawmakers
for fear of such information being leaked to the public.
He said: “Nobody invited me to come here (press centre).
I learnt that a number of you visited my office to talk to
me about what is going on currently in the National Assembly,
especially with regards to my stand on offences related to
the EFCC, what we used to call 419.
“I repeat, and I repeat it again, I stand by what I
said. The only thing you are not going to hear from me are
the names you want to know. I will not mention these names
you want to know. I will not mention those names.
“I will not provide any name to anybody because it would
leak. I was prepared to name names on that day, but I have
changed my mind. I won’t mention names except to the
Senate president or the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
If it leaks out, I will know the source.”
Condemning one of the Abuja-based newspaper reports, which
quoted him on Monday as saying that there are no fraudsters
among the northern lawmakers, Senator Aliyu said: “I
am a true Nigerian. Nobody in the National Assembly will accuse
me of being tribalistic or showing ethnic bias. I believe
in the oneness of Nigeria and for anybody to say that there
are no 419ers in the north is being mischievous and is trying
to cause disaffection with these my friends in the South to
begin to dislike me.
“My friend, my very best friend is a southerner. He
is from Edo State. He is Parry Osayande. He is a Christian
and I’m a Muslim.
“I’m a Muslim, but I’m not a fanatical Muslim.
So, how can I factionalise Nigeria? There are criminals in
the south as there are criminals in the north, as you were
all aware. What I’m fighting is crime. I have been a
crime fighter for 40 years and I was a policeman for 35 years.
“I don’t want to divide Nigeria and I’m
not going to divide Nigeria. If I’m invited by the House
of Representatives, I will go. But there’s a procedure.
They have to go through the Senate president. If he says I
should appear before them, I would respect his views and do
that.”
Giving further insight into why he was not disposed to naming
lawmakers involved in Advance Fee Fraud, Aliyu added that
he raised the alarm so as to prick their conscience, thereby
redeeming Nigeria ’s image internationally.
“Many of those defrauded never appeared to prosecute
the cases. None ever appeared. This is my predicament. That’s
why I won’t mention names. If I do, I would be accused
of character assassination and taken to court to prove my
case.
“The noise am making in the National Assembly is intentional.
It’s meant to distract and discourage my colleagues
from what they are doing. Honestly, before God and man, I
have a lot to say but I will limit it here.
“I have my integrity to protect. I have been here since
1999 and I don’t want to tarnish my image. I want Nigeria
to progress. What I’m doing is to instill fear into
them so that they can stop what they are doing in the name
of Nigeria.
“Gentlemen, if in the process, I die, I will be very
happy that I died for the progress of Nigeria .”
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