Olukoyede repeated the notorious fact that the EFCC can only investigate sitting governors, but may not prosecute them until their tenure expires.
By ALABI WILLIAMS
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has announced ongoing investigation of 18 governors for various financial malpractices. Olukoyede repeated the notorious fact that the EFCC can only investigate sitting governors, but may not prosecute them until their tenure expires.
He said: “We don’t wait until governors complete their tenure before we begin our work. Right now, the EFCC is actively investigatingn 18 sitting governors. Once their tenure is over, we will proceed accordingly.” That message was delivered at a recent public awareness programme, perhaps to serve as warning.
The Commission has as part of its functions, the mandate to prevent financial crimes. But taking into account EFCC’s experience in the hands of former governors, how helpful is it to only investigate while crime is being perpetuated? Sounds like closing the stable after the horse has bolted. That renders the anti-corruption fight tricky, particularly when dealing with Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs). For that, some have asked for adjustments to the constitutional immunity clause.
At the close of 2007 political season, the EFCC under its first chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, told Nigerians that he had concluded investigations on some governors. He said he was waiting for them to leave office, by which time they would be eligible for prosecution. Close to two decades after the suspects had left office as governors, the Commission has not successfully prosecuted a greater percentage of the cases. Nigerian Airways merchandise
Some of the cases EFCC investigated according to Ribadu then, bordered on money laundering, diversion of local government allocation and contract inflation. Wives of governors were found to be involved in money laundering. In one case in the South-east, the governor was reported to have used his mother, daughter, wife and brother to divert N35 billion to float an airline, media company and pharmaceutical business.
Another governor and four officials were arraigned on a 16-count charge of stealing public funds to the tune of N60.85 billion. Others colluded with local government councils to defraud their states. In the oil producing states of the South-south, governors were reported to have diverted their states’ 13 per cent derivation money into foreign accounts. In the North-west, one governor who presided over one of the poorest states was alleged to have diverted a N1 billion loan procuredto execute projects.
The journey for the EFCC has been one of, the more you look, the less you see. Many Nigerians have moderated the enthusiasm they invested in the Commission. Some of the cases are still dragging and others have been concluded in questionable plea bargaining. Many are shrouded in legal mystery. Nigerian Airways merchandise
Two former governors, Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame were convicted and later granted pardon by former President Muhammadu Buhari. Former governor of Delta State, James Ibori had been jailed in London for financial crimes. The one who managed Bayelsa State from 1999 to 2005, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, was convicted of fraud and jailed for two years. He was arrested in London on suspicion of money laundering in 2005. His London home was stashed with $1.5 million as well as $2.7 million held in a foreign bank account. His foreign and local assets were stupendous, deftly spread across jurisdictions.
Apart from the Ibori and Alamieyeseigha cases, which foreign support assisted to unravel and prosecute, other governors may have secured for themselves some soft-landing after the government of Olusegun Obasanjo had left office; and the country’s anti-corruption drive had lost verve. Ribadu himself had also left and was on the run from political persecution.
It took the combined energiesof Obasanjo and Ribadu to give the EFCC the initial impetus. Obasanjo demonstrated a personal commitment to tackle corruption. When he won election in 1999, the chairman of global anti-corruption movement Transparency International (TI), Dr Peter Eigen, had this to say of OBJ and the victory: “The victory of Olusegun Obasanjo, a courageous and highly-principled anti-corruption fighter, on winning what has clearly been a difficult and fraught election, bodes well for the future of all Nigerians.”Nigerian Airways merchandise
At TI’s inauguration conference in May, 1993, Obasanjo was in attendance, where he lamented that “young people now have as their role models the leaders who have made money as a result of corruption. Corruption destroys the future of our society.” Poignant!
Eigen then recommended that the international community should support and encourage Obasanjo to introduce transparent and effective governance, whose pillars should include rule of law, independent judiciary, an honest police and freedom of information.
That was the background to the anti-corruption and transparency policies Obasanjo’s government initiated, including founding the EFCC. He found a soulmate in Ribadu, an officer who demonstrated equal commitment. Ribadu didn’t need a lot of public lectures to persuade governors or anybody not to steal. He had the law and the backing of Mr president, who was the number one anti-corruption czar.
Ribadu was a lowly Assistant Commissioner of Police when he brought down Tafa Balogun, a former Inspector General of Police, who was found to have mishandled N5.7 billion and was sent to jail. On that occasion, Ribadu enthused that justice was blind to rank or personality. The only fear he had was of God, not man. And the people he dealt with most were those closest to Obasanjo and their party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Doesn’t that speak to the policy objective of a government that was determined to fight corruption?