wonder some of ya'll would b praisin EFCC for.i heard sum 1 no sacred cows what about people like bode george and the NPA scam?i even heard bode geogre tellin atiku to resign imagin that?abeg EFCC is jst OBJ's legalised intimidation tool.they had a focus but they'v derailed
This is why u should praise efcc.
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commis-sion (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, yesterday unmasked 31 state governors that the commission had been investigating in connection with sundry offences, including alleged criminal diversion of local government funds.
Ribadu who was admitted into the Senate chamber at 12.04 p.m., had presented a report of the commission’s investigations into the activities of state governments to the President of the Senate, Senator Ken Nnamani, who asked for the report, which he proceeded to read through.
According to the EFCC chairman who opened a can of worms in almost all the states of the federation, only six governors had a clean bill of health.
The governors are Donald Duke (Cross River State) Danjuma Goje (Gombe) Bukola Saraki (Kwara), Abba Ibrahim (Yobe) and Adamu Aliero (Kebbi) and Peter Obi (Anambra).
He said none of them had been mentioned in connection with the probe of council funds or any of the other offences, among them money laundering, diversion of funds, embezzlement and corrupt practices.
He said investigations had been concluded in at least14 states and that the commission was either already prosecuting or about to prosecute offenders. The states are Enugu, Abia, Adamawa, Ekiti, Anambra (former Governor Chris Ngige), Jigawa, Kwara (former Governor Mohammed Lawal), Kogi (former Governor Abubakar Audu), Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Taraba and Zamfara.
States he said investigations were ongoing include Osun, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Borno, Delta, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Edo, Ebonyi, Katsina, Niger, Ondo, Oyo, Lagos, Rivers, Sokoto and Ogun
Ribadu, in declassifying the content of the commission’s report of its investigations into alleged monumental corruption in Enugu State consistent with the resolution of the Senate, had begun with Enugu and gone through 32 other states.
He said that the commission had investigated Governor Chimaroke Nnamani, his Special Adviser on Local Government Affairs, Mr. Sam Ejiofor; Mr. Peter Mbah; Mr. Chinanya Ukha; Mr. Fred okoli; Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi and some other officials for financial misappropriation, embezzlement, abuse of office and money laundering.
Ribadu said: “We are ready to prosecute the Enugu case,” pointing out that the cases of contract inflation and diversion of state statutory allocations had been confirmed.
He said that the assets of the Governor Nnamani were many while confirming that there were many contracts that were over priced. The EFCC chairman said there were 34 others who the commission was yet to determine whether or not to prosecute.
He said that Governor Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State had virtually privatized the State, telling the Senate that cases of stealing, misappropriation, forgery, diversion of funds, which the Abia Leaders Forum alleged in their petition, were being thoroughly investigated and great progress had been made.
According to him, “The Governor used his mother’s name, his wife’s name (Ifeoma), his son’s name (Ogbonnaya) to divert the state’s funds with which he built his business empire-Slok Shipping, Slok Airline, Reality Organisation, among others. The state’s funds diverted in the process are in excess of N65 billion”.
He said that the commission was investigating the Adamawa State Governor, Mr. Boni Haruna, on the strength of the petition forwarded to it by Senator Paul Wampana, alleging out that the governor and the Commissioner of Chieftaincy Affairs committed large-scale crime.
In the case of Akwa Ibom State where Governor Victor Attah, a presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presides, Ribadu said that investigations into the activities of the state government based on the petition received “are on-going”.
He said in Anambra State, the commission had investigated the former Governor Chris Ngige and the State House of Assembly for criminal diversion and misappropriation of state funds.
He said that the commission found out that the fund diversion was effected through one Princess Uzor Okonkwo.
Ribadu said that Governors Adamu Muazu of Bauchi, Goodluck Jonathan of Bayelsa and his wife, Modu Ali Sherrif of Borno, Geroge Akume of Benue, James Ibori of Delta, Lucky Igbinedion of Edo, Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, Achike Udenwa of Imo State and Saminu Turaki of Jigawa had also been investigated for sundry allegations on the basis of petitions received against them. He, however, did not disclose the outcome of the investigation.
The commission boss disclosed that Governor Makarfi of Kaduna State and his counterpart in Kano State, Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau were also under investigation for alleged misappropriation of fund, abuse of office, diversion of und and fertilizer scam with particular reference to Kano.
In Kwara State, he said that the commission was investigating a case of abuse of office by the former Governor, Alhaji Mohammed Lawal, while in Kogi State; he said that there was a petition against a local government chairman just as there were petitions against three local government chairmen in Katsina State.
He said that the commission was on the trail of former Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Audu, whom he said had escaped out of the country, but assured the Senate that efforts were being made to extradite him back to the country to answer charges of wrongdoings against him.
According to him, “We have filed charges against the former Kogi State Governor. He ran to London and we are working for his extradition.”
He said that the commission had also investigated local government funds misappropriation in Osun, Ondo, Oyo, Ogun and Lagos States, just as the petition against Governor Peter Odili and three local government chairmen in the state had been investigated.
In Plateau, he said: “the State House of Assembly participated fully and directly in the fraud and embezzlement of funds in the State along side Governor Joshua Dariye”.
He stated that Sokoto State Governor, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, his Zamfara State counterpart, Alhaji Ahmed Sani, and the Governor of Taraba State, Rev Jolly Nyame, were not free from the commission’s inquisition.
Speaking on Zamfara, he quipped: “Zamfara is one of the worst cases. We have charged the governor and his officials to court. It is a tragedy. It could end up as a case of direct stealing; there is no third party.”
In Taraba, he said: “We are taking the government and the State House of Assembly to court. In two weeks from now we are going to court.”
Going by Ribadu’s hints, next month may witness a flurry of legal battles involving the commission and many of the state governments as well as local governments.
Ribadu told the Senate that the commission was at the moment investigating the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), adding, “We are going to come out with the report of our findings very soon”.
He used the forum to clear the air on the alleged N50million bribe money given to some legislators to promote the ill-fated Third term agenda of President Olusegun Obasanjo, asking the senators with evidence and information to come to him “and you will see what I will do.”
Ribadu disclosed that the commission had investigated and found nothing against the Federal Government and the National Assembly.
According to him “We checked the accounts of the Federal Government daily, even the security vote to see where money is taken to settle National Assembly members.
“We have not found any. But in the case of the state government, we were able to trace movement of money from the state governments to State Houses of Assembly”.
On the issue of barring candidates from contesting elections, he said: “EFCC does not have the right or power to stop anybody, but we will not shy away from investigating crooks who want to aspire for public offices with a view to stopping and prosecuting them”.