ACTING President Yemi Osinbajo, at the weekend dropped two of the 14 nominees into the Board of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, who are being investigated for alleged N1billion fraud by the same commission. The nominees are Maimuna Aliyu and Sa’ad Alanamu.

Osinbajo had on Tuesday, August 1, appointed Bolaji Owasanoye as the new chairman of ICPC and redeployed Ekpo Nta, the former chairman, to the National Salaries, Wages and Income Commission. He also named 13 others as board members of the commission.

But four days after the appointments, there were reports that Aliyu and Alanamu were being investigated for alleged fraud which was believed would bring credibility crisis into the commission set up to fight such fraudulent acts.

Hence, Laolu Akande, senior special assistant to Osinbajo on Media and Publicity, announced on his Twitter handle on Sunday, August 6, that in view of conflicting interest brought by the nominations of the two men into the board of the commission, the Presidency had cancelled their appointments.

Akande said that although the allegations against the duo had not been established in the court of law which would have ordinarily led to their automatic disqualification, the government still had the responsibility to ensure that the right thing was done when weighty allegations were made.

“We are stepping down two of the new ICPC board nominees who have ongoing investigation issues with the commission as this presents a conflict.

“While existence of allegations or petitions against someone shouldn’t necessarily disqualify them from considerations for appointments, this case presents a peculiarity as we have confirmed that the agency in which they are to serve is indeed investigating the two of them.

“A basic check showed no court convictions against them. But when weighty petitions come up, this administration will always do the right thing,” Akande tweeted.

Owasanoye who was hitherto a member of the Presidential Committee on Anti-corruption headed by Itse Sagay, a professor of law, will serve for a renewable term of five years while other members will serve for four years.

Other nominees into the board are: Grace N. Chinda, Okolo Titus M., Obiora Igwedebia, Olubukola Balogun, Sam Ewang, a retired group captain, Justice Adamu Bello, Hannatu Mohammed and Abdullahi Maikano Saidu.

Also nominated are: Sa’ad Alanamu, Yahaya Umar Daud, Khamis Ahmed Mailantarki, Maimuna Aliyu and Musa Usman Abubakar as the board secretary.

Aug 7,2017 @ 11:15 GMT