A former Head of Service, Stephen Oronsaye, who is facing corruption charges at a federal court should be stripped of his membership of the board of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC) has demanded.

The group is also asking for Oronsaye’s removal as chairman of the Financial Action Task Force on account of his “dented integrity”.

‎”We also demand the transfer of Mr. Oronsaye’s case and trial from Justice Gabriel Kolawole, for his clear expression of bias, for his doubtful integrity and for his patent exhibition of disdain for probity and accountability,” CSNAC said in a statement by Olanrewaju Suraju and Debo Adeniran, Chairman and Board Member respectively.

Oronsaye was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) last Monday on fraud and money laundering charges to the tune of N1.2bn.

According to the EFCC, the accused awarded and paid for fake contracts to nine companies.

After their arraignment, Justice Kolawole let go of Mr. Oronsaye and his co-accused. They are due a return in court on July 21, the next adjourned date.

The CSNAC added that Justice Kolawole who is overseeing the case should be stripped of that responsibility for showing bias and charged the EFCC to continue in its renewed zeal against corrupt elements.

“Appointment of heads of anti corruption agencies must be based on integrity, leadership and professional competencies as well as performance, and must follow legally established procedures,” the group said.

“We welcome the commitment of the government to the reform of the judicial and the criminal justice system. In this regard, we call on the government to commence this reform process without delay.

“As part of this reform, government should ensure that judges accused of, or indicted for corruption, for compromising or acting contrary to their oath of office are appropriately sanctioned.

“Government should ensure it appoints a credible member of the bar as Attorney General and outstanding Judge as Head of courts to ensure that corruption cases are assigned only to judges with high reputation and proven integrity.

“We call on the EFCC to sustain this new drive and ensure that it acts always without fear or favour,” said the group.

“As we all know, when you fight corruption, it always fights back. It is therefore expected that corrupt public officers who are currently being called to account will fight back with all the energy, resources, stratagems and antics at their disposal.

“They will attempt to politicise the effort by claiming that they are being victimised, all in a grand design to blackmail the‎ government. They will hire propagandists and hatchet men and women within and outside the media to throw up persecution theories in a diversionary bid to manipulate public opinion and attract public sympathy.”

The group further called on the judiciary to key into the anti corruption mode of President Buhari and not be a cog in the wheel of progress.

“The judiciary should be concerned more with substantial justice, rather than resorting to, or hiding under the subterfuge of legal technicalities to undermine the efforts of anti corruption agencies to ensure that corrupt politicians and other avaricious public servants are brought to justice.

“We also note with concern, the apparent volte face by President Buhari concerning his welcome development not to continue to allow the use of public funds to sponsor pilgrimages.

“Nigeria remains a secular state, which means that religion is a personal affair of every Nigerian citizen and government should focus on its core duty of guaranteeing the welfare and security of the citizens while protecting the freedom of religion.”