The Federal Government says the Presidential Executive Order Number 6 of 2018 will have immediate effect on 155 high profile corruption cases involving over N595 billion.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed disclosed this at a media briefing in Lagos to drum support for the Order signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on July 5.
Mohammed, who described the Order as “the Administration’s most potent weapon against corruption to date,” noted that, expectedly, there had been pockets of opposition to it.
“Those opposed to it say it is unconstitutional, dictatorial and amounts to the usurpation of the powers of the legislature and the judiciary.
“The truth is that, having realized the potency of the Order in giving muscle to the fight against corruption the corrupt and their cohorts have become jittery. They have every reason to be. Henceforth, it won’t be business as usual, he said
“This is a huge amount by any standard. It is higher than the N500 billion allotted to the Administration’s Social Investment Programme in the 2018 budget.
“The President has the power, under Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution as amended to abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power.
“Executive Order Number 6 is constitutional. Anyone who feels otherwise can seek redress in court,” he said.
Mohammed said Buhari was not the first democratically-elected President to issue Executive Order adding that former Presidents Shehu Shagari and Olusegun Obasanjo issued such Orders.
He appealed to Nigerians to support the Administration’s efforts “to tackle the cankerworm of corruption to free national resources for national development”.
