FG Calls Executive Order 6 Most Potent Weapon Against Corruption
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.
Addressing a press conference in Lagos on Sunday, 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.
Executive Order No. 6 of 2018 aims to, among others, 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.
”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.” the Minister said
He said President Buhari is the 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 is 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 said in the United States, after which Nigeria’s
presidential system of government was fashioned, Presidents, starting
from George Washington to Donal Trump, have 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.
Alhaji Mohammed 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.
