By Olanrewaju Ajao Edo state governor Adams Oshiomhole Wednesday advised the Federal Government to consider interrogating and prosecuting the immediate past Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala over the arms deal scandal.
Oshiomole who spoke to State House Correspondents insisted that the former minister could be culpable in the release of arms procurement funds which were allegedly diverted into other ventures.
He also noted that the office of the former National Security Adviser was not the only leaking point in the last administration.
“I have been talking about it, I just said to a couple of persons, the government has to go the whole hog, because I know as a governor that no money gets out of the treasury even after I have approved as the governor without the approval of the commissioner of Finance.
“Those are the procedure. So, the probe should go into whether all these monies are appropriated, all of it, when the money got out of the treasury, through who?
“The Minister of Finance under the rules must endorse before money gets out of the treasury before CBN approves.
“So, all those Minister of Finance including Okonjo – Iweala, I don’t care what people say because you cannot be coordinating a corruption-ridden economy and you pretend to be an angel, you cannot selectively deal with issues, you must deal with all involved in the conspiracy.
“In criminal law, when two to three people are involved in a act of criminality, all of them are charged with conspiracy.
“You cannot get money out of the treasury without getting it endorsed and for a government that talks about transparency, due process and I am unable to accept that money will come out without the Minister of Finance having to endorse document and if you endure documents, you must follow through to see that the purpose through which funds are released are actually used for that purpose,” he said.
