Nigerian government blasts PDP, others over position on Executive Order 6

The Federal Government has described the Executive Order Number 6,
recently signed by President Muhammadu Buhari, as the administration's
most potent weapon against corruption.

This is in reaction to condemnation by the People's Democratic Party
(PDP) that the order was targeted at the opposition.

The presidency had stated that PDP was crying foul because it was
opposing the fight against corruption.

Buhari, early in July, signed the order which will among other things
"restrict dealings in suspicious assets subject to investigation or
inquiry bordering on corruption in order to preserve such assets from
dissipation, and to deprive alleged criminals of the proceeds of their
illicit activities which can otherwise be employed to allure, pervert
and/or intimidate the investigative and judicial processes".

Addressing a press conference in Lagos, the Minister of Information
and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, also defended the constitutionality
of the Executive Order, saying those opposed to it should go to court.

He said: "The truth is that, having realized the potency of the Order
in giving muscle to the fight against corruption – which by the way is
one of the three cardinal programmes of our Administration – the
corrupt and their cohorts have become jittery. They have every reason
to be. Henceforth, it won't be business as usual

"For those who claim that the Executive Order Number 6 is dictatorial,
it is clear they have not even read it. Section. 3 (i) of the Order
states that any Person who alleges that his rights have been violated,
are being or are likely to be contravened by any of the provision of
this Executive Order may apply to a competent Court in
his jurisdiction for redress".

He explained that President Buhari was not the first
democratically-elected Nigerian President to sign Executive Orders,
adding: "In 1980, then President Shehu Shagari issued an Executive
Order to modify the Public Order Act. This was unsuccessfully
challenged in court by then Governors of Ogun and Borno States. In
1999, then President Obasanjo issued Executive Orders to abolish the
Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) and to proclaim May 29 as Democracy Day."

On the constitutionality of Executive Order Number 6, Alhaji Mohammed
said the President has the power, under Section 5 of the 1999
Constitution as amended – which extends to the execution and
maintenance of the Constitution, all Laws made by the National
Assembly (including but not limited to Section 15(5) of the
Constitution) – to abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power.

He said the war against corruption was a must-win for Nigeria in order
to free national resources for the nation's development and noted that
the new measure became necessary to "re-kit and re-tool" the
administration's arsenal to effectively tackle corruption.

The Minister pointed out that in the United States, after which
Nigeria's presidential system of government was fashioned, Presidents,
starting from George Washington to Donal Trump, had used Executive
Orders to shape policies.

"George Washington, who was President of the US from 1789 to 1797,
issued 8 Executive Orders. Franklin Roosevelt (1933-1945) issued 3,522
Executive Orders; Barack Obama (2009-2017) issued 275 in eight years;
Bill Clinton (1993-2001) 364 and current President Donald Trump 80 so
far. Recently, the US Supreme Court upheld, 5-4, President Trump's
indefinite ban on travel from several predominantly Muslim countries.
That ban was the result of an Executive Order," he said.

The minister hailed President Buhari, the African Union's Champion on
Anti-Corruption, for showing uncommon courage and leadership by
unveiling Nigeria's most potent tool against corruption and appealed
to Nigerians to support the Administration's efforts to tackle the
cankerworm of corruption.