Release Andrew Yakubu’s Int’l Passport Now, Group Tells EFCC
A pressure group, Advocacy for Justice, AoJ, has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC to release the international passport of the former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu.
Recall that Yakubu, who was arrested by the anti-graft agency after about $9.8 million cash was found in his house in Kaduna, was slammed with a six counts charge.
The trial judge, Ahmed Mohammed, who granted him bail to the tune of N300m, ordered that he deposit his international passport with the court registrar and not travel outside the jurisdiction of the court.
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But the group in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Mallam Farouk Mohammed, lampooned the EFCC for withholding Yakubu’s international passport thereby denying him access to medical care.
According to the group, the move is a “travesty of the 1999 constitution which presumes one innocent until proven otherwise by a competent court of law and as such should not be made to suffer unduly.”
The group further noted that Yakubu’s tenure as the helmsman of the NNPC “was without blemish as he was a stickler for excellence and merit.
“The former NNPC GMD is a detribalized Nigerian that was raised by a clergyman who imparted in him the spirit of hard-work and morality.
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“The so called monies allegedly recovered from his house were donations made towards the actualization of his gubernatorial ambition.
“Some powerful forces jealous of his integrity and rising political profile conspired to nail him,” the group said.
Mohammed, therefore, challenged the EFCC and the media to undertake an objective inquiry of his tenure.
He further urged the judiciary to live up to its constitutional responsibility as the last hope of the common man by reviewing his bail conditions to avail him proper Medicare without delay, stating that “his health condition is deteriorating in custody.”
