Crack agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission are expected to swoop down in Ilorin, Birnin Kebbi, Sokoto, Gombe and Dutse today to arrest top Finance and Local Government Ministry officials in a crackdown secretly ordered by the Presidency, top political sources told Daily Trust in Abuja yesterday.


Expected to be arrested in the swoops are Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries in the respective states’ Ministries of Finance and Local Governments as well as several chairmen of Local Government Councils and officials of Governor’s Offices for alleged mismanagement of State/Local Government Joint Accounts. The EFCC teams left Abuja yesterday in unmarked cars and are expected to carry out their assignments this morning.


Curiously, the political sources said, the governors of all five targeted states, namely Dr. Bukola Saraki of Kwara, Muhammad Danjuma Goje of Gombe, Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko of Sokoto, Sule Lamido of Jigawa and Saidu Usman Dakingari of Kebbi were among the ten governors that voted at the Northern Governors’ Forum meeting in July to uphold the PDP’s zoning formula and exclude President Goodluck Jonathan from seeking the PDP’s ticket to contest the 2011 elections.

Of these five, Saraki, who is chairman of the National Governors’ Forum, is expected to get the governors’ endorsement to contest against Jonathan in the PDP primaries scheduled for October. Goje is also mentioned among the governors as a prime contender for the ticket.

Only yesterday, EFCC agents swooped down on the Rivers State capital, Port Harcourt, and began to round up state officials for allegedly pilfering funds from the state’s oil-rich treasury.

Two days earlier, Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi, who is apparently opposed to Jonathan’s 2011 presidential bid, was publicly dressed down by First Lady Patience Jonathan, who accused him of planning to demolish homes in her native Okrika Local Government Area in order to expand a public school. She shouted down the governor at a public meeting and accused him of insensitivity. The First Lady’s public upbraiding of Amaechi was widely seen in Rivers political circles as a fall-out of 2011 politics.

A source told Daily Trust in Abuja that today’s expected crackdown on five of the pro-zoning Northern governors is expected to clear the decks only days before the ruling PDP issues its guidelines for the presidential primaries in October.

The source said five Northern governors who have been spared from the crackdown are expected to quickly capitulate and support Jonathan’s ambition, or else the EFCC will crack down on them too. They are Niger State governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, Adamawa’s Admiral Murtala Nyako, Katsina State’s Barrister Ibrahim Shema, Zamfara’s Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi and Kano’s governor Ibrahim Shekarau.

Another senior party official told Daily Trust that the Jonathan camp’s latest strategy was dictated by former president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who regularly used such tactics to cow his political opponents in the years 2005-07.

When Daily Trust contacted EFCC’s spokesman Femi Babafemi for comments last night, he said the allegations that the commission would swoop on pro-zoning governors were mere political propaganda. But he confirmed that the commission’s operatives had arrived in Port Harcourt to carry out investigations.

“It is propaganda and political mischief. Those behind the story are on to some mischief. I am not aware of anything like that. Our operatives are not in Gombe or Sokoto, or any place like that. They are trying to drag the commission into political issues. There is no truth in it,” he told Daily Trust by telephone.

“We were in Rivers two days ago to arrest three local government chairmen in connection with some fraud. The cases had been investigated since 2008. The local government chairmen have fled, but our operatives have arrested some officials of the three local governments.”

The arrested Rivers officials are Jessy Ogulor, Treasurer of Port Harcourt Local Government Area; Da Wariboko Iketrokosun, head of personnel Ekwere LGA; and Hycinth Nwosirim, the cashier of Obio Akpor LGA.

Governor Amaechi also yesterday confirmed the presence of the EFCC operatives in the state. Speaking at the opening of an information summit organised by the state government, the governor urged EFCC to obey a Federal High Court judgement barring it from arresting Rivers government officials.

President Jonathan’s special adviser on Media and Publicity Ima Niboro could not be reached for comments last night.

one party system of govt. this is obj in action. we saw this happened in 2007 when odili, marwa, Ibb and a host of other presidential aspirants were told to drop their ambitions or face efcc. atiku who refused to obey that order was mearnt to face the music.
here again, we are seeing that same invincible hands of the old chimpanzee at work.