FG to release another looters’ list, says Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has hinted of Federal Government’s plans to release another list of looters very soon.

He said the category of people whose names will also appear on the coming list will be those Nigerians never suspected were involved in looting the nation dry.

The Information Minister made this known when he spoke with newsmen on Sunday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, adding that no amount of intimidation from any quarter would make the Federal Government stop from releasing the list.

Following the two lists of looter earlier released by the Federal Government, which consisted majorly of names of those in the opposition, the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Uche Secondus, had dragged Mohammed and the Federal Government to court for libel while some other members of the party had threatened to do same should the Federal Government fail to withdraw their names from the list and tender a public apology to them.

But Mohammed told newsmen in Ilorin that the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration was not going to ask anybody not to go to court, “but what we are telling them is that they should re-examine themselves because when the government came out with its list, it was confident of the evidence it had.”

He added, “No government worth its salt would be challenged and would not come out to prove that what it is saying is correct.

“When it comes to evidence it’s for the courts to decide, but we want to make it clear that no amount of intimidation from any side would prevent the Federal Government from releasing the next batch of looters’ list and what you have seen so far is the tip of the iceberg. You will see that many people that Nigerians did not suspect partook in the national looting.

“Interestingly, we have people saying that they are going to court. You see, courts are for the accused person and the accuser, courts are for the rich and the poor, courts are for the government and the governed. So, anybody that says that he’s going to court, that shouldn’t frighten anybody.”

The minister had also on Sunday assured Nigerians that the Federal Government will leave no stone unturned to ensure better security for all Nigerians.

Mohammed gave the assurance when he paid a condolence visit to the traditional ruler of Offa in Kwara State, Oba Mufutau Gbadamosi, following the recent deadly armed robbery attack in the town that left no less than 17 people, including nine policemen and eight civilians, dead.