Northerners under the aegis of the Concerned Northern Forum has voiced their reservations regarding the report presented to President Bola Tinubu by special investigator Jim Obazee.
The group, cautioning the President in a statement on Tuesday, emphasized the need for careful consideration, fearing that the investigator’s past may compromise the credibility of the findings.
The statement, signed by the group’s Chairman, Aliyu Muhammad, urged President Tinubu to exercise caution, likening the situation to walking in a field filled with hidden dangers.
Muhammad highlighted Obazee’s questionable qualifications for leading a financial investigation, citing past scandals involving the siphoning of funds, awarding contracts to himself through proxies, and accusations of sexual harassment during his tenure as CEO of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria.
The group expressed concern that Obazee’s controversial history and financial mismanagement make him unsuitable for such a crucial investigation. They suggested that rather than investigating the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Obazee himself should be subjected to scrutiny.
The statement read, “This is so because Jim Obazee himself is not qualified to lead any special investigation, most especially one that has to do with finance given his antecedents.
“The man hired by President Tinubu is at the heart of scandals that involved siphoning and squandering of billions of naira while he was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC), awarding and procurement of contracts to self-using proxies, racketeering, acquiring luxury properties worth billions both at home and abroad that his salary could never justify and also accused of sexual harassment.
“A known and tagged man of controversies, with so many dirty cuts on his character and financial records is not the man for such a job. Obazee’s professionalism, patriotism, and loyalty are all questioned, his priorities are his financial gains or the personal scores he set out to settle. Jim Obazee should be investigated and not the other way around.
“Unless the President is interested in his expertise of personal witch hunt and controversies that are capable of inciting chaos, Jim Obazee has no business investigating the CBN or any other financial institution for that matter. Mr President should heed to the action of firing Jim Obazee by his predecessor, former President Muhammadu Buhari who is known to despise and fight corruption.”