Hitherto, state governors have been used to
getting invitations to impressive and ground-
shaking occasions but recently, some of them
have gotten invitations they might never have
expected. PAUL CHIAMA and ADAH ABAH
write.
Having exhausted the much-debated
immunity provision in the Nigerian
constitution, some ex-governors may be
heading to the days of reckoning when they
have to pay for their misdeeds if the anti-
graft agency remains focused on achieving
a conclusive prosecution. With the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
trailing some past governors and grilling
them for hours, many of them will never
want their paths to cross with that of the
commission. Some of the former state
executives having cases to answer before
the commission are:
Ikedi Ohakim
If former governor of Imo State, Ikedi
Ohakim, had been informed that operatives
of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) would knock at his door
at about 8am in his Asokoro residence on
Thursday, June 18, to arrest him, he may
probably have changed his direction and
hurried out of the Federal Capital Territory
(FCT). But that was not to be and his
immunity as governor haven long been
exhausted, EFCC officials stormed his
residence in one of the choice areas in the
FCT; an area which is regarded as an
exclusive enclave for the rich and the
powerful.
Ohakim was arrested over a number of
properties he allegedly acquired which the
anti-graft agency had traced to his name.
Also, the cases brought against him include
alleged misappropriation of N18bn bond
loans obtained on behalf of Imo State
government. This is just as he is being
investigated for alleged cash withdrawals of
about N1bn from the state account a day
before he left office as governor. The ex-
governor had earlier been invited by the
commission but he failed to honour the
invitation. His failure then sparked off the
arrest.
The former governor may not be at the best
of his times now as he has come under
close watch of the EFCC. He has been
arrested, interrogated and later released but
he does not know what may be his fate at
the end of the day, a reason why he may
even be more apprehensive.
Sule Lamido
Similarly, the immediate past governor of
Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, has also come
under the watch and grip of the EFCC.
Lamido was invited for questioning by the
anti-graft agency penultimate Thursday.
Like a gentleman, he cooperated and
honoured the invitation but that did not
pacify the EFCC nor end the case against
him; it is only a smooth beginning in digging
deep into the charges made against him.
Lamido is being accused of huge financial
fraud running into billions of naira. The
questions Lamido has to provide answers to
border on contracts which his government
awarded to companies which are linked to
his family members. Also, the ex-governor
had been blacklisted since the EFCC
arrested his sons last year for alleged
stealing of Jigawa State government funds
and laundering which they allegedly
committed through their company accounts.
Timipre Sylva
Former governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre
Sylva, is among the former governors who
tangled with the EFCC at the termination of
their tenure as state executives. Therefore,
he may not be having maximum sleep as
each night passes. Sylva has been standing
trial over a six-count criminal charge
brought against him by the commission
ranging from alleged masterminding of
illegal diversion of state government funds
from the coffers of Bayelsa State during his
tenure to other offences. Among the
offences are embezzlement of over N6.5
billion from the treasury of the small oil-rich
state between October 2009 and February,
2010 – just a period of 4 months.
In a recent trial, Sylva was ordered to submit
all his international passports to the
registrar of an Abuja high court where the
case was being heard. He was also granted
bail in the sum of a towering N100m and
was further ordered to secure an Abuja
resident who must be an owner of landed
property worth the bail sum as surety to
avert the chances that the ex-governor may
‘jump’ bail. His case with the anti-graft
agency was as serious as this.
Apart from this, the former Bayelsa
governor also faced another 42-count
charge in an Abuja high court, along with six
others for allegedly stealing N19.2bn from
the treasury of the state. However, in a
rather controversial decision, Justice A.R
Mohammed of the Abuja Federal High Court
recently dismissed the case against the
once-embattled former governor.
Martin Elechi
Just like some of his counterparts, the
former Ebonyi State governor, Martin Elechi,
is not having it too rosy with the EFCC.
Elechi was on Tuesday, June 16, summoned
by the commission for interrogation.
Accusations against the septuagenarian
include alleged theft of millions of naira in
the asphalt contract for the state’s 13 local
government areas. The contract was said to
be shoddily executed and was allegedly
awarded to the former governor’s son,
Elechi Nnanna Elechi.
For instance, out of 13 local governments in
the state, the contract was executed in only
six local government areas, leaving seven
unattended to. This is notwithstanding that
money had been made available for the
contract execution.
In addition, Elechi is also facing hard times
with EFCC over misappropriation of funds
provided to be used for centenary
celebration. That’s not all. Elechi was
further interrogated over deductions made
from stabilization fund account.
Elechi’s son, Nnanna had been arrested by
the EFCC earlier in January this year over
alleged corrupt and fraudulent dealings.
However, under the immunity clause by
which he was adequately galvanized as a
state governor, the anti-graft body could not
lay hands on him but waited for the right
time which is now. Whether Elechi would be
found guilty, jailed or compelled to return the
money in question to the suffering treasury
of Ebonyi State is not clear yet. Only time
will tell as EFCC continues to sniff around
towards conclusion of the case.
Murtala Nyako
Former governor of Adamawa State, Murtala
Nyako, has been having it rough with the
EFCC since July, 2014 following allegations
of financial crimes leveled against him.
It will be recalled that Nyako with his deputy,
Bala Ngilari, was impeached by the
Adamawa State House of Assembly for
gross financial fraud on July 16, 2014 and
was later declared wanted by the anti-graft
agency alongside his son Abdul Aziz
Murtala Nyako, a retired naval officer, in
February this year. Both were wanted for
alleged criminal conspiracy, stealing, abuse
of office and money laundering.
However, at the commencement of the
EFCC’s investigations, Nyako left the
country. He returned only nearly a year later
and visited the commission to answer some
questions. Following his return and
subsequent turning in at the commission’s
office, the former governor was held and
grilled for hours over allegation of money
laundering running into N15bn. But Nyako
was later released on what the EFCC
Spokesperson, Mr Wilson Uwujaren,
described as “administrative bail”. Mr.
Uwujaren said the former governor, who is
73, was also released based on his age and
health situation.
Since when the charges were instituted
against Nyako and his son, the former
governor has attributed his travail to witch-
hunting and selective justice perpetrated by
the immediate past administration of
President Goodluck Jonathan which he has
severally accused of witch-hunting him for
speaking the truth.
The commission had alleged massive
looting of the treasury by top officials of
Adamawa State government under Mr.
Nyako, a development that, at the time, led
to the arrest and questioning of key officials,
including then secretary to the state
government, the then state commissioner
for finance, the then commissioner for
higher education, the then accountant
general of the state and the then permanent
secretary, ministry for local Government.
Ibrahim Shema
The searchlight of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is also
beaming bright on Kastina State. In a move
to ensure that former Katsina State
governor, Ibrahim Shema, gives account of
how he spent the state’s resources while in
power, the EFCC recently invited four top
officials of the state government for
questioning over some financial
transactions.
The Commission invited four officials of the
Katsina State government to clarify issues
related to financial misappropriations in the
last four years of Shema in power between
2011 and 2015, even as the former governor
was reported to have travelled out of the
country.
The officials who were invited include
permanent secretaries of the ministries of
works and agriculture; the managing
director of the Katsina Road Maintenance
Agency (KASAROMA) and the state
accountant general.
The EFCC directed the officials to come with
various official documents bordering on
contracts awarded between 2011 and 2015,
annual budgets from 2011 to 2015, actual
funds released to the ministries/agencies
from 2011 to May 2015, funds released to
the ministries of agriculture, works, housing,
transportation and sports among others .
The recent arrest of some former governors
who just left office last month at the
expiration of their tenures by the EFCC is
raising some hopes in the fight against
corruption. This is more so, considering the
fact that the commission had been lying
recently on the ground that it was not
funded to carry out prosecutions of corrupt
public officeholders.
On the other hand, one may wonder if the
new impetus gathered and being
demonstrated by the commission is part of
President Muhammadu Buhari’s vow to
fight corruption. One may also wonder if
these new cases will be conclusively
executed or allowed to go fallow like other
cases instituted against some public
officeholders without any conclusion or
conviction at the end. Such cases are
waiting to be exhumed.
When LEADERSHIP Friday contacted an
Abuja-based legal practitioner, Barrister
Thaddeus Odo, for comments on why some
cases being prosecuted by the EFCC often
die suddenly without convictions, he said the
problem lies with the Act establishing the
commission. According to the lawyer, the
Act provides for plea bargaining which, he
said, is not proper.
“The problem lies with the EFCC Act itself.
The Act provides for plea bargaining; that is
improper. That provision gives room to
people to get out of the hooks through plea
bargaining. The EFCC also targets rich and
powerful people who always want a leeway
which is one of the reasons why those
people standing trial under EFCC always get
out freely”.
In a sharp contrast to what is meted against
the common man in the hands of law
enforcement agents such as the police
where brutality is always the order of the
day, Barrister Odo said people who are
detained and placed under EFCC
investigation “are rather pampered and
given preferential treatment unlike the
common man”.
He also pointed out that public officeholders
being prosecuted for corrupt practices
prefer to part with some of the loot instead
of going to jail. Odo said that prosecution is
also made problematic because those
prosecuting the accused must have proof
beyond reasonable doubt. He added that in
the course of any prosecution, where there
is lacuna (any doubt for want of proof), it is
always to the favour of the accused person.
Another bottleneck affecting effective
prosecution of EFCC cases to the point of
convicting fraudulent persons is what Odo
called “forum shopping” – a room for
people standing trial to request that their
case be transferred to a place where they
can find favourable judgement. He cited the
example of EFCC’s case against former
governor of Delta State, James Ibori which
was initially holding in Kaduna State but
later transferred out of the state.
On whether Nigeria’s anti-graft laws are
stringent enough to deter people from
engaging in corrupt and fraudulent acts, the
legal practitioner argued that members of
the high echelon of the society who make
the law know that they may become victims
someday, so they deliberately make the law
loose to favour them when it happens to
them. This understandably is a reason why
prosecutions on corruption cases fall short
of the expectation of Nigerians, especially
when high profile individuals are involved in
very terrible corruption cases.
On the issue of immunity (a provision which
prevents a governor and the president from
being prosecuted until after the expiration of
his tenure) in the Nigerian constitution,
Barrister Odo said the rationale behind the
clause is to allow a governor or the
president to carry out his official activities
without interruption as such interruptions
may affect the common good of the people.
He, however, argued that with the
widespread abuse of the immunity provision
in the constitution, it will equally be of
common good to expunge it from the
constitution.
This, he said, will make public officeholders
to sit up and remain meticulous in handling
public funds with the consciousness that
they are accountable for anything they do in
public office, especially regarding
misappropriation of public funds.
Financial crimes such as money laundering
have become a global ugly trend hence
many countries today like China and other
“Asian Tigers” have developed tougher
measures and legislations to deal with the
menace head-on.
In December, 2005, the Financial
Supervisory Commission (FSC), the single
financial regulator set up by Taiwan began
an incentive program for the public to
provide information on financial crimes. The
reward for information on a financial case
with fines of TDW 10 million (approximately
S300, 000) or at least a one-year sentence
is up to TDW 500, 000 (approximately S15,
000).
In China, however, financial crimes,
corruption, illegal fund raising or other
ranges of fraudulent acts summarily
attract
death penalty if the suspect is found guilty.
It is regarded there as “death sentence for
white collar crime”. In China, for instance,
about 4, 000 people are reported to be
executed annually, according to a human
rights organization, Dui Hua.
Source: Leadership Newspaper.
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