₦airaland Forum

When Ifeanyi Okowa, former Delta State Governor, and the entire structure of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta publicly announced their defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), they raised a few eyebrows.

The former governor had flown the PDP’s flag as its vice presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election and was among the more popular opposition members.

However, while he had a quieter post-election activity than other candidates, he returned to the newspaper pages when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) invited him for questioning on November 4.

The anti-graft agency was investigating Okowa for alleged diversion of N1.3 trillion of the 13% derivation fund the state got from the Federation Account between 2015 and 2023. There was also a N40 billion fund for shares in UTM Floating Liquefied Natural Gas that the EFCC said he did not account for.

Several reports have since linked his defection to his probe. The man himself described the probe as politically motivated. Some have raised the January 2019 comments Adams Oshiomhole, an APC chieftain, made during a rally in Benin, the Edo State capital. Oshiomhole urged opposition to join the APC first and “Your sins are forgiven” afterwards.

FIJ looked into several high-profile politicians who joined the ruling APC shortly after the EFCC began investigating them.

GODSWILL AKPABIO
In June 2015, the EFCC launched a probe into the 2007–2015 tenure of former governor Godswill Akpabio in Akwa Ibom State.
They acted on a petition from Leo Ekpenyong, a lawyer and activist who accused Akpabio of stealing N108.1 billion from Akwa Ibom.

Ekpenyong told the EFCC that Etekamba Umoren, the former Government House Permanent Secretary, and Udo Isobara, the state’s former Accountant General, helped Akpabio steal the funds.

At the time this probe began, Akpabio was in the Senate representing Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District and was the Minority Leader, but he did not have any immunity.
In September 2017, the anti-graft agency again probed him for gifting N1.4 billion to a new generation bank during his time as Akwa Ibom Governor.

Akpabio would later join the APC on August 8, 2018. The EFCC would claim a day later that the probe was not over, but they went quiet a year later and Akpabio went on to become a minister. In April 2023, they invited Akpabio for questioning over his handling of affairs at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Afterwards, he became Senate President. Several groups continue to call for a conclusion to the probes, but Akpabio continues to walk free.

ORJI UZOR KALU
Orji Uzor Kalu with operatives of the EFCC
First, he was found guilty of embezzlement; then he was let go. No court acquitted him of the charges, but no one can try him on them again. That is the story of the man who should be in prison but currently serves in the Senate. The story of Orji Uzor Kalu.

On July 11, 2007, the EFCC arrested Kalu for the first time. He had recently lost his immunity, and the anti-graft agency was ready to prosecute him for abusing his office as the governor of Abia State.

Kalu stood trial for 12 years alongside Slok Nigeria Ltd., his company, and Udeh Udeogu, who was the director of finance and accounts at the Abia State Government House during Kalu’s tenure. As the case progressed, Kalu jumped ship and joined the APC from the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA). A month earlier, the EFCC arraigned him in a Lagos court on 34 counts of fraud.

Things went smoothly until he declared his ambition to be Deputy Speaker against the party’s wishes. In June 2019. He dropped his ambition, but his problems were not over yet. On September 9, 2019, he lost his senate seat via a tribunal ruling. He would later recover the seat, but things went from bad to worse.

On December 5, 2019, Mohammed Idris, a judge at a federal high court sitting in Lagos, found Kalu guilty on 29 counts and handed him a 12-year prison sentence. Udeogu also bagged 10 years. Five months later, the Supreme Court set Kalu free on a technicality but kept Udeogu in prison. The court did not acquit Kalu but said Idris was promoted before he gave the judgment, so the verdict was faulty.

STELLA ODUAH
On December 17, 2020, the EFCC filed 25 counts at the Federal High Court in Abuja against Stella Oduah, a former Minister of Aviation, and CCECC, a Chinese construction giant. The agency accused them of money laundering to the tune of N5 billion.

At the time, Oduah was serving as a senator representing the Anambra North Senatorial District. Oduah did not show up in court on July 12, 2021, and Justice Inyang Ekwo threatened to order her arrest. A month later, she joined the APC.

Her time at the party was not long, though. On April 25, she completed a return to the PDP ahead of the 2023 general election. When the election was over, Oduah finally had her day in court on July 21, 2023. Her trial is ongoing.

MUSILIU OBANIKORO
For the longest time, Musiliu Obanikoro tried to become Lagos State Governor with the help of the PDP, but he could not wrest power away from the ruling party.

He became Minister of State for Defence when the PDP held power during the Goodluck Jonathan administration, but the Ekiti and Osun gubernatorial elections became his undoing.

EFCC arrested Obanikoro on October 17, 2016, for receiving N4.7 billion through the Office of the National Security Adviser in 2014 ahead of the elections.

They let him go on bail a month later, but the trial dragged on. He confessed to receiving some of the money for keeps and handing the rest to Ayodele Fayose and Iyiola Omisore for their elections in Ekiti and Osun, respectively.

A year later, Obanikoro joined the APC. His last court appearance was on November 30, 2023, to testify against Sambo Dasuki, the accused NSA, and Fayose.

More luck fell on Obanikoro on February 6 when the police withdrew a N1.3 billion fraud charge against Gbolahan, his son. The Inspector General of Police (IGP)’s office had earlier arraigned Gbolahan and two others for defrauding Access Bank between May and September 2013, but while withdrawing the case, the police never stated why.

PETER NWAOBOSHI
Other politicians who enjoyed similar fortunes include Peter Nwaoboshi and Emmanuel Bwacha. Nwaoboshi faced money laundering allegations from the EFCC under the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2021.

The agency, however, failed to convince the Federal High Court in Abuja of Nwaoboshi’s guilt. On June 18, 2021, Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke acquitted the senator representing Delta North. A week later, he joined the APC.

The EFCC would secure a conviction from the Appeal court a year later, but Nwaoboshi would evade jail by going on the run. He then secured another acquittal from the Supreme Court.

EMMANUEL BWACHA
Emmanuel Bwacha, a former Senate Minority Leader representing Taraba South in the Red Chamber, has earned the condemnation of the people he used to represent. Formerly with the PDP, his constituents believe he cross-carpeted to the ruling party to evade investigation and prosecution.

On February 11, 2022, Daniel Likam, Coordinator of Concerned Constituents of Taraba South Senatorial District, told newsmen that Bwacha defected to save his neck.

He said, “We want to make it very clear to the world that contrary to the speculation that he left the PDP in Taraba because he was not welcomed anymore in the party by our governor, we must say that his exit from PDP Taraba is never a problem to worry about.

“Rather he decamped to the APC due to the pressure of EFCC as other former corrupt PDP members did, a trend we are appealing to the President of Nigeria and APC national leadership not to entertain and welcome to the ruling party, people with such questionable records of financial misappropriation.”

In early 2021, Bwacha’s constituents wrote to the EFCC to investigate his constituency projects from 2017 to 2020. Reacting to this probe in March 2021, Bwacha said he spent N50 million to erect a police fence in Takum local government area.

He completed his defection in February 2022, but it did not come cheap. In November that year, a Federal High Court in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, declared his seat vacant due to his defection. He went on to contest for the governor’s office, but a Supreme Court ruling would prevent him from getting to the ballot due to issues in the APC’s primary.

EFCC REACTS
On Friday and Saturday, FIJ called Dele Oyewale, EFCC’s spokesman. He responded on Saturday morning saying he does not take interviews over the phone.

FIJ sent him a text message which Oyewale suggested. However, as of press time, he had not responded to our inquiry on whether the agency would continue its probe of Okowa and other politicians in the ruling party.

Racoon:
"MIRACLE OF DEFECTION: These Politicians Joined APC, Then Their EFCC Probes Went Away."
https://fij.ng/article/miracle-of-defection-these-politicians-joined-apc-then-their-efcc-probes-went-away/

Jokerman:
Honestly if you look at it, Tinubu government ha not convicted any thief of corruption..

This government is such an enabler of corruption... Worse than Jonathan and Buhari..

May Tinubu never happen to Nigeria in 2027

Racoon:
"MIRACLE OF DEFECTION: These Politicians Joined APC, Then Their EFCC Probes Went Away."


https://fij.ng/article/miracle-of-defection-these-politicians-joined-apc-then-their-efcc-probes-went-away/

Perfectnumber6:
Apc =Party of Criminals