Knocks for Jonathan over church donation

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan appears to have a fresh battle on his hands as civil rights groups and opposition parties on Monday blasted the President for accepting the donation of a multi-million naira church building by an Italian construction firm.

Jonathan was reported by a national newspaper (not THE PUNCH) to have said that the church building was donated to his home community of Otueke, Bayelsa State, by Gitto Construzioni Generali Nigeria Limited following his complaint that the old church building in the village was unbefitting of a president’s village.

Already, one of the rights groups questioning the propriety of the gift, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to probe the donation of the church building that has capacity to seat 2,500 at a time to Jonathan’s Otueke community.

The Executive Director of SERAP, Mr. Adetokunbo Mumuni, in a petition to the Chairman of EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Larmode, in Abuja on Monday said the President confirmed during the dedication of the church building that it was donated to him by the Italian construction firm.

The donation, according to SERAP, violates Section 6 of the Code of Conduct for public officers embodied in the First Schedule of the 1999 constitution and the Code of Conduct and Tribunal Act (CAP C15) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The section provides that, “A public officer shall not ask for or accept any property or benefits of any kind for himself or any other person on account of anything done or omitted to be done by him in the discharge of his duties.

“For the purposes of subsection (1) of this subsection, the receipt by a public officer of any gifts or benefits from commercial firms, business enterprises or persons who have contracts with the Government shall be presumed to have been received in contravention…unless the contrary is proved.”

A lawyer in constitutional law, Prof. Itse Sagay, said it was morally wrong for the President to accept the building as a donation.

In a telephone interview with one of our correspondents on Monday, Sagay described the donation as “very devastating misconduct if Jonathan had accepted the offer.”

According to the lawyer, the donation has the propensity to compromise Jonathan and constitute a blow to transparency and anti-corruption fight.

Sagay said, “It is highly improper and absolutely improper. It is the last thing he should ever do. That is why I want to be sure that he accepted it. Maybe they want to embarrass him by building it and announcing that they have donated it to him without consulting him.

“He should know better. I do not think he will expose himself to such very devastating misconduct.

“If he has accepted it, I will be greatly disappointed and really, it is very sad because it would not augur well for the future of transparency and the fight against corruption.

“Obviously anybody doing that is trying to compromise him.”

Another activist and Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, said the church building should be forfeited to the government.

Falana said, “It is illegal under the Constitution and the Code of Conduct, which say no public officer can even take a national honour while in office.They must also not take or collect any gift, except gifts such as kola nuts.”

He added that the church should be forfeited to the government under different sections of the Code of Conduct Tribunal Act and Bureau.

He added that former President Olusegun Obasanjo was also guilty of the same offence by gathering public officers to donate for him while building his presidential library.

He said, “What Jonathan has done is an impeachable offence. The contractor’s aim was to bribe him, which the President has fallen into.

“The contractor has some contracts which it has failed to execute and now went to build a church for the President.

“It is a bribe to the President, who presides over the award of contracts at the Villa.”

The Congress for Progressive Change, the Campaign for Democracy and a former Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, in separate reactions said the acceptance of the donation by Jonathan was a setback to the anti-graft war.

The CPC’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said that it was an unfortunate thing that it was “the chief of state that is whittling down the fight against institutional corruption”

The opposition party stated, “Leadership comes with a price. The leaders must not just be above board, but must be seen to be above board.

“The acceptance of a gift of that magnitude is definitely a faux paux (whether a church or not is immaterial). In a saner clime, heads of government have been known to resign their appointments over matters as this.

“This is definitely not a thing to gloat about as regards our President’s demeanour. Would this not give an undue advantage to Gritto in matters of plum government contract?”

The president of the CD, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, said the President should not have accepted the gift because the company was “doing business with the Federal Government and has a record of poor performance.”

Musa described the donation as improper but noted that it was no longer strange in the country, submitting that most Nigerian leaders were guilty of corruption, which he said had soiled the image of the country.

SERAP, in its petition states, “Foreign bribery is a crime even if the briber would have been awarded a contract or business advantage. SERAP is seriously concerned that given the huge sums of money involved and the timing of the church gift, the alleged gift may amount to a bribe to the government by a construction company that has sought and obtained contracts from the Federal Government.

“Procurement and investment agreements corrupted by this kind of ‘gift’ invariably lead to increased costs not only in higher prices but also in needlessly expanded and ultimately inefficient projects.”

According to SERAP both the acts of giving and accepting the disguised bribe undermine the institutions and values of democracy, ethical values and justice, and jeopardise sustainable development and the rule of law.

The organisation said, “The acts also hurt the government and ordinary Nigerians who may suffer as a result of bad execution of projects by GCG.

“The allegations also constitute a breach of national anti-corruption legislation and the UN convention against corruption to which Nigeria is a party.

“It is very important that the commission sends a strong message that it is willing and able to step up its efforts to detect, investigate and prosecute cases of bribery in international business deals.

SERAP therefore urged the EFCC to ensure that the allegations were fully and effectively investigated.

It said that the findings of the investigation should be published, adding that suspected perpetrators should be brought to justice.

Efforts to reach the spokesman for Jonathan, Dr. Reuben Abati, on Monday failed as the Presidential Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, did not pick calls to his mobile phones.

Abati did not also respond to our correspondent’s text messages asking for his reaction on the subject matter.

When contacted, the spokesperson for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, refused to confirm the receipt of the petition submitted by SERAP.

THE PUNCH however learnt that the petition was duly submitted and received at the commission.

A source in the commission told one of our correspondents that the petition would be looked into and that proper investigation would be carried out on its merit.

“The petition is not going to be different from others. When we receive any petition we despatch our team of investigators and this one will not be different from others,” the source which craved anonymity said.

Source: http://www.punchng.com/news/knocks-for-jonathan-over-church-donation/

busy bodies.

This scandal generates several questions:

1. Has President Jonathan broken the Code of Conduct for public officers in Nigeria?

2. If he has, what is the punishment for the offence?

3. Does he have enough decorum to resign since he has no legitimate right to punish any of his subordinates for corruption when for all intent and purposes, he is no better than them?

4. If he fails to resign, are we the people of Nigeria forthright enough to remove him from office?

5. Can we as a people really move forward if we continue to condone such corruption and misdemeanour?

6. Compare this situation to the that of Hungary: do you think the world takes us seriously with our nonchalant attitude towards such issues of breach of trust and integrity from our leaders?

^
in organized countries # 3 and 4 would apply.

Na wah o.. The man the beg for church building ma?

...and the name of the church shall be Saint Retardeen Churh of Morons.

Am just trying to imagine how GEJ put his request for the church. How did he and the MD of the company move from discussing national issues to discussing Otuoke dilapidated church building. Nigeria is so hopeless having this ediot as ruler.

Post too long to be taken seriously.. *not interested*

maclatunji: This scandal generates several questions:

1. Has President Jonathan broken the Code of Conduct for public officers in Nigeria?

2. If he has, what is the punishment for the offence?

3. Does he have enough decorum to resign since he has no legitimate right to punish any of his subordinates for corruption when for all intent and purposes, he is no better than them?

4. If he fails to resign, are we the people of Nigeria forthright enough to remove him from office?

5. Can we as a people really move forward if we continue to condone such corruption and misdemeanour?

6. Compare this situation to the that of Hungary: do you think the world takes us seriously with our nonchalant attitude towards such issues of breach of trust and integrity from our leaders?

My frend dnt jst jump into an illogical conclusion as regards d subject mata.as said by one comentator earlier,this is a busy body thing. Frm the words of MR president,can u categorically point how he "accepted" the said offer?you don't accept things by mere saying "the church bulding was donated to his home community of otueke"!digest d sentence well and ask was there any form of acceptance?did he acknoledge any acceptance in his statement?try and reason things logically.GEJ has a CJN and Minister of justice who wuld av adviced him on the problem of accepting such offer.so dnt jst jump into conclusion

floriana: Am just trying to imagine how GEJ put his request for the church. How did he and the MD of the company move from discussing national issues to discussing Otuoke dilapidated church building. Nigeria is so hopeless having this ediot as ruler.

Mr I know u didn't read the post before commenting.u even used the word "imagine" meaning u couldn't believe it right.so this thing is just BUSY BODY
If smeone bring a pen to ur company and told u its for ur company and u replied "dis pen has been brough to my company" does it translate to been accepting the pen offer? Did u use the word "I accept" or is dere a documentation dat u received/accept such offer? Usse ur brain guy

So what's the president's offence na?

So what's the president's offence na?

Did Obasanjo not build a multi billion naira personalised library with monies from governors and foreigners alike??

D question is, is dis church built in his name or in d name of his wife or children? Is dis church built in his compound ,Wen we quote d code of conduct, we should take d issue out of it's context and apply it properly. We know of coy's dat built personal houses / mosque 4 former heads of state, dis mosque re built right inside their compounds yet nobody complain. Now, what is wrong with building a church in d presidents home town. Go to Minna and see wer 2 former heads of state worship, inside their homes. GEJ, is d number one person of dis country, he deserve to worship God in a befitting place. Give it to GEJ dat he did say d church should b built in his compound

onyewec3:

My frend dnt jst jump into an illogical conclusion as regards d subject mata.as said by one comentator earlier,this is a busy body thing. Frm the words of MR president,can u categorically point how he "accepted" the said offer?you don't accept things by mere saying "the church bulding was donated to his home community of otueke"!digest d sentence well and ask was there any form of acceptance?did he acknoledge any acceptance in his statement?try and reason things logically.GEJ has a CJN and Minister of justice who wuld av adviced him on the problem of accepting such offer.so dnt jst jump into conclusion

My guy u have spoken well, I wanted to ask if he does nt have a legal adviser, at least someone to seek advice from relating to issues like this?
Let's assume its all busy body stuff like d later guy have saidm

you guys still talking about gej? i've lost hope in that mutha long time ago

onyewec3:

My frend dnt jst jump into an illogical conclusion as regards d subject mata.as said by one comentator earlier,this is a busy body thing. Frm the words of MR president,can u categorically point how he "accepted" the said offer?you don't accept things by mere saying "the church bulding was donated to his home community of otueke"!digest d sentence well and ask was there any form of acceptance?did he acknoledge any acceptance in his statement?try and reason things logically.GEJ has a CJN and Minister of justice who wuld av adviced him on the problem of accepting such offer.so dnt jst jump into conclusion

I was expecting people like you to come and say something like this. The launching of this church did not happen yesterday and I watched our dear President weeks ago on NTA News 'over the moon' with joy telling of how the company's MD had visited the church at a previous occasion and heard him lamenting the poor state of the church and how he needed to 'raise donations' to renovate it. The MD of the company told him not to worry and voila they have a spanking newly renovated Church to the tune of millions. In fact, on the day of the launching of this renovated church, fund raising for a bigger church to be built next to the current one was initiated.

It is on record and I watched it on national television. I am not your average 'beer parlour analyst', don't even go there.

For those who want to question if the President has done anything wrong read this section of the report:

The donation, according to SERAP, violates Section 6 of the Code of Conduct for public officers embodied in the First Schedule of the 1999 constitution and the Code of Conduct and Tribunal Act (CAP C15) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The section provides that, “A public officer shall not ask for or accept any property or benefits of any kind for himself or any other person on account of anything done or omitted to be done by him in the discharge of his duties.

“For the purposes of subsection (1) of this subsection, the receipt by a public officer of any gifts or benefits from commercial firms, business enterprises or persons who have contracts with the Government shall be presumed to have been received in contravention…unless the contrary is proved.”

I have little doubt that the President will wriggle out of this but we should hide our heads in shame if and when that happens. It means we as a people lack integrity and a sense of accountability. Contrast this to Hungary and you know that we are retrogressing from a state of decay into extreme decay.

Big shame!

when i saw the story, i knew the all d acceptance and non acceptanc issue will be twisted, no harm in that. the problem here is, the construction company building a church in gej home town (nothing wrong)and informing him was going to raise issues. but again when gej was presented with d gift,u dont expect him to ask them to go and demolish it na. my question is what was the reason for the construction of the church? to earn a favour from the president?
so whatever, this is nigeria the matter will die a natural death like anyother one

Another report:

President Jonathan Violated Code of Conduct Act in Accepting Gift from Gitto

President Jonathan has come under fire from anti-corruption watchdogs for accepting a gift from a major construction company, Gitto Costruzioni Generali Nigeria Ltd. Gitto is an Italian owned company that grew from marble supply in the late 80’s and early 90’s to become one of the leading construction companies in Nigeria.
The company enjoys lucrative construction contracts from some State governments, and the Federal Government.

Recently, President Jonathan accepted a 2,500 capacity church building, built by Gitto, in his village Otuoke in Bayelsa. The company donated the ultra-modern church to the President’s village on behalf of the President.

In his acceptance, the President violated Section 6 of the Code of Conduct for Public officers embodied in the First Schedule of the 1999 Constitution and the Code of Conduct and Tribunal Act (CAP C15) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The Act states, “A public officer shall not ask for or accept any property or benefits of any kind for himself or any other person on account of anything done or omitted to be done by him in the discharge of his duties. For the purposes of subsection (1) of this subsection, the receipt by a public officer of any gifts or benefits from commercial firms, business enterprises or persons who have CONTRACTS (emphasis ours) with the Government shall be presumed to have been received in contravention…unless the contrary is proved.”

Gitto construction is a company stained with controversies in the areas it operates, it is facing allegations of destroying properties in Eket (Akwa Ibom) without compensating the property owners, as well as abandoning the Bodo-Bonny road in Bayelsa.

Also, only recently a group of lawmakers in the National Assembly have called on President Jonathan to review the N 58.6 billion contract awarded Gitto for the Second Niger bridge. All these developments are fueling speculations that the church was built in order to give Gitto construction a smooth landing as the President reviews their contracts.

Source: http://businessnews.com.ng/2012/04/02/president-jonathan-violated-code-of-conduct-act-in-accepting-gift-from-gitto/

ONE ISSUE FOR DETERMINATION : THE BURDEN OF PROOF IS ON HE WHO ALLEGES? THEY SHOULD PROVE THAT GEJ DEMANDED FOR AND ACCEPTED SAME.

atuboweke: ONE ISSUE FOR DETERMINATION : THE BURDEN OF PROOF IS ON HE WHO ALLEGES? THEY SHOULD PROVE THAT GEJ DEMANDED FOR AND ACCEPTED SAME.

We know how these things go. However, people are going to make sure GEJ feels the heat on this one. We the people are trying to reform this country and save ourselves from the deadly effects of misgovernance and the President thinks he can be collecting 'gifts'. He had better sack his advisers and get new ones that will prevent him from such blatantly unacceptable behaviour.

By the way, did the Hungarian President wait for anything to be proven before resigning. Those are people who know what honour and integrity means. Just know one thing- too much of everything is bad. Too much of corruption will eventually kill corruption and too much of incompetence will eventually kill incompetence.

abacha and ibb shuld be brought5 to book for using our oil money to build national mosque abuja!

What is it Again with these folks? Is it just me or do they seem to be on the watch for the slightest chance to strike? SMH

pls was the church renovated for the community or for gej's family?

warrior01: pls was the church renovated for the community or for gej's family?

It was renovated for GEJ and his people. Read the post well.

aryzgreat: abacha and ibb shuld be brought5 to book for using our oil money to build national mosque abuja!

By all means go ahead. I am sure they are quaking in their boots.

HQ: What is it Again with these folks? Is it just me or do they seem to be on the watch for the slightest chance to strike? SMH

Welcome to Leadership 101.

Lesson 1: A leader is to be be held accountable for his action(s) and/or inaction(s). That is the way it is and your 'dear leader' has soiled his hands with this one. The Gitto that did not remember the church at Otueke when he was a Deputy Governor, Governor or even Vice President now remembers him and his 'community church' less than 2 years into his tenure- how extremely convenient!

They will vote for Goodluck Jonathan, he is the right man we need that will make us succeed(in corruption and lack of integrity?).

#Saynotocorruption

vanstanzy: Guyz wetin concern una na? Church no be im property na. He'll still give it to God, right?

Read this conversation between 2 fictional sons of Otuekey, Solo and Laughter.

Solo: Laughter my friend, I thank God for Presi Good luck Joe nathan, see how im bring big-big peeple com Otuekey com build bigga Shorch for we.
Laughter: I talk am, Good luck go change our community. Vely soon, all of im friends go com bid roads, skuuls and medica centa for we.

Solo: Why Good luck friends go build am, dem no us?
Laughter: U no no say, if dem help develop Presi villa, im go get beta mind for dem kompani. im go give dem beta kontract.

Solo: Na true u talk O. Dat one na I scrach your back, you scrach my back. 'U do me, I do U God no go vex.'
Laughter: U get am, no be d tin wey dis Northaners dey do all of dis yars. Dem no get shishi but dem dey helep demsef.

Solo: Na God give us Good luck O. Dat church for dey like that collapse if e no becum Presi
Laughter: Na owa tym jor. Mak we njoy.

wellto the illiterate boko haram f0cks he probably was

maclatunji:

I was expecting people like you to come and say something like this. The launching of this church did not happen yesterday and I watched our dear President weeks ago on NTA News 'over the moon' with joy telling of how the company's MD had visited the church at a previous occasion and heard him lamenting the poor state of the church and how he needed to 'raise donations' to renovate it. The MD of the company told him not to worry and voila they have a spanking newly renovated Church to the tune of millions. In fact, on the day of the launching of this renovated church, fund raising for a bigger church to be built next to the current one was initiated.

It is on record and I watched it on national television. I am not your average 'beer parlour analyst', don't even go there.

Hey guy stop decieving pple OK.you watch a church service in which GEJ was clamouring for the renovation of the said church on NTA. Wat a lame and senseless lie.so if GEJ go to toilet in otueke,NTA will televise it right.how many church programme that GEJ attended in abuja had been televise let alone in otueke.Haaaaaaabaaaa propagandist.why didn't we hear dis along before now.abt SERAP or Femi Falana don't have TV to watch it.Ok sorry,I have forgotten its only u dat have TV in Nigeria. Liars,

onyewec3:

Mr I know u didn't read the post before commenting.u even used the word "imagine" meaning u couldn't believe it right.so this thing is just BUSY BODY
If smeone bring a pen to ur company and told u its for ur company and u replied "dis pen has been brough to my company" does it translate to been accepting the pen offer? Did u use the word "I accept" or is dere a documentation dat u received/accept such offer? Usse ur brain guy

@Onyewec3 The only reason am responding to your post is because you were skilled enough to know how to quote my post. Every other thing about you suggested u are a low life with incredibly low standards and expectations in life. For a simpleton like you to advise me to use my brain when GEJ is patently wrong by accepting this bribe, it shows u are only fit for a place in the jungle. And pls go for a grammar lesson before coming to advertise your ignorance at a public forum like NL. Electronic ediot!

no need to waste time on this one. we have more 1 million and 1 cases under this administration regime with non bringing forth any positive thing.
even if jonathan takes the wife of every nigerian, the nigerian/pdp constitution has no punishment for him so while discussing it?
we are living in a lawless jungle where pdp and their members do anything they like including marrying a minor(yerima) and terrorism(ndume and sambo) and nothing will happen.