A civil society group, Public Affairs Transparency, has decried resistance to reforms at the Code of Conduct Bureau, urging President Muhammadu Buhari to resist moves to stop ongoing reforms embarked upon by the Bureau Acting Secretary, Mrs. Folasade Kolawole.
In a statement issued in Abuja and signed by its Director of Advocacy, Abdulahi Idris, the group condemned actions and activities of some staff of the bureau who are desperate to perpetuate the status quo of corruption and breach of the anti-corruption war.
“A cabal within the Bureau is against reforms which Mrs. Kolawole stands for. She wants to stop corruption within the system; she wants to halt tampering with assets declaration forms; she wants the bureau to truly enforce the code of conduct for public officers. All these this cabal is opposed to.
“How can anybody resist a recall of a senior officer done within the law and civil service regulations? How can a group of people insist that the public service rules should not be implemented? How can you resist what is clearly legal and which follows due process. Mrs. Kolawole was duly recalled after withdrawing her resignation within the two out of the stipulated three months.
“We have gone through all the papers and documents and we can tell Nigerians and Mr. President that all known regulations were complied with in the recall exercise. We also hasten to say that the so called court injunction had since lapsed and the defendants have challenged the jurisdiction of the industrial court on the matter.
“What we discovered is that some entrenched staff doesn’t want a return of Mrs. Kolawole because of her anti-corruption style. She wants the Bureau sanitized. Can you imagine assets declaration forms missing or changed by unscrupulous elements? Can you imagine collusion between some staff and public officials to tamper with assets declaration forms? This woman said all these must stop and they gang up against her.
“ We alert Nigerians and Mr. President that there is no Maina case at the CCB. This is a case of a corrupt establishment fighting to stop reforms. We must not succumb to blackmail”, the statement concluded.
