A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Olisa Agbakoba, has called on the Service Chiefs and the Inspector-General of Police to resign.
He stated this during a chat with ARISE TV concerning his expectations of the new government led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and what it should do to win the trust of Nigerians.
Agbakoba said that the country is in critical insecurity situation and due to the inability of the Service Chiefs to do something remarkable about it, they should not be part of the new government.
“All the guys who took part in the former government should honorably step down. Now, he (Tinubu) needs to have good people around him. If that happens and it’s successful, that then pushes the way forward to now unleash a couple of big programmes.
“One of them will be in insecurity. I would say all Service Chiefs including the Inspector-General of Police should honorably resign because they’ve not done well. President Tinubu cannot carry on with these Service Chiefs.”
The senior advocate also said the existence of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is unconstitutional and thus it should be dismantled, adding that the chairman of the commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, had lost public confidence and should be sacked or honorably resign.
“We need to talk about anti-corruption. The anti-corruption process in the country is not working. I’ve challenged the constitutionality of the EFCC. The EFCC needs to be dismantled. Abdulrasheed Bawa needs to go, because what he’s doing is not attracting people’s confidence. He needs to go. He’s always in battles with everybody.
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“Now, he’s battling Matawalle. That’s not how to fight corruption. So, we need to see Mr Bawa step aside honorably so that the anti-corruption process can get seen to be genuinely fought by the president without any equivocation,” he said.
Agbakoba also said the President should first of all try to unite the nation by working together with the leadership of the different sub-national entities across the country.
He said, “Nothing positive can happen in this government without President Tinubu making a huge attempt to unite Nigerians. He can call a meeting of the sub-nationalities of Nigeria. The Afeniferes, the Ohanaezes, etcetera, because these guys have very strongholds on their ethnic sub-nationalities.”|
In respect to revamping the economy, he urged the new government to prioritize the maritime industry to yield higher revenue.
“Another important issue is concerning the economy. The revenue issue is horrible. If we get a hundred naira, we are also using hundred naira to pay debt, so he must quickly look for how to generate revenue.
“The ports here in Apapa produce 20 billion naira every day. Yet, this place is abandoned. I would like to see the president propelling to the National Assembly an emergency regeneration bill for Apapa ports. It may cost many billions but it would be worth it.
“The maritime economy which has been glossed over by almost all presidents in Nigeria needs to form a central part of the president’s agenda. We need to see the president appoint a minister of maritime affairs. Nigeria is a very rich country. Outside the oil and gas sector, the maritime sector is the second largest yet there’s no minister for it.”
