SOURCES close to the family of the late chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, the late Justice Bashir Sambo, have told sharpedgenews.com that it plans to address at an appropriate time the inaccuracies contained in the newly released memoir of former Federal Capital Territory minister, Mr. Nasir el-Rufai.
Nasiru el-Rufai’s memoir, titled An Accidental Public Servant, denied that any vendetta influenced the forceful possession of a house belonging to the late Tribunal chairman, which the el-Rufai administration in the Territory had touted as a restoration of the capital city’s masterplan.
The same criminal fate was dealt another member of the tribunal, Prof. Adetokubo Oluyede, who is now retired as an Oba in Ondo State.
Sharpedgenews.com was reliable informed that Mr. el-Rufai unilaterally subverted constitutional procedures and got the support of Justice Constance Momoh, an Edo State judge who was reportedly envious of service package reserved for federal judges to encourage the seizure of her predecessor’s properties.
The house which was seized from the former chairman has allegedly been returned to his family, although the property belonging to the other affected judge, Professor Olueyde, now the Oba of Ayede-Ogbese, remained seized, even as efforts continue to see that justice is done in the matter of the seizure of the property, located in Asokoro.
El-Rufai’s forceful take-over of the properties, family sources said, led to the untimely death of the tribunal chairman.
Oba Oluyede, who was treated with disdain by the el-Rufai leadership in association with Justice Constance Momoh, voluntarily resigned his membership of the tribunal. He has since been invited and given a befitting valediction by the federal government.
A few years after Mr. el-Rufai left office, sharpedgenews.com phoned him to get his views and account of his stewardship as minister of the Federal Capital Territory, especially as it concerns the saga of property seizure in Abuja.
Speaking from his then-location at Harvard University in Cambridge, USA, el-Rufai was characteristically saucy and uncooperative, although he likes to say in public that government officials should be open to probity and accountability.