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EFCC ALLEGES GRAFT IN 33 STATES - THE DRAMA CONTINUES
EFCC Alleges Graft In 33 States
28th September
By Adetutu Folasade-Koyi, Snr Correspondent, Abuja

To Prosecute 15 Governors as Nnamani Bars Ribadu From Naming Highest
Treasury Looter

Thirty three state governments may eventually be charged to court by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged corruption,
misappropriation of funds and brazen theft from the public purse.
Those of Kebbi, Yobe, Gombe States were not mentioned in the pack. EFCC
Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, told the Senate on Wednesday that investigation of
public officers began with President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was absolved by
the American FBI and CIA.

Fifteen of the governors would soon be charged to court. The cases of the
others are at various stages of completion.
Ribadu singled out "Zamfara (as) one of the worst cases that we have. We
will charge the officials, including the governor himself, to court. There
is a tragedy going on. The governor is going about town saying that we are
persecuting him because he wants to contest for the Presidency. The case of
Zamfara is of direct stealing. Direct stealing I tell you." States indicted
are Abia, Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra (former Governor Chris Ngige), Bauchi,
Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Enugu, Ekiti and Edo.

Others Ebonyi, Imo; Jigawa, Kwara (former Governor Muhammed Lawal), Katsina,
Kano and Kaduna, Lagos, Niger, Nassarawa, Ondo, Osun, Kogi (former Governor
Audu Abubakar), Oyo, Ogun, Plateau, Sokoto, Rivers and Taraba.

Ribadu disclosed that a former Nigerian leader is the highest treasury
looter in the world. But Senate President, Ken Nnamani, prevented him from
naming him.

Senators listened in shell-shocked silence as the crime burster reeled out
the list of governors that would soon be charged to court.

It was a day of high drama.

Shortly before Ribadus opening comments, Nnamani reminded his colleagues
that the National Assembly is constitutionally empowered to summon the EFCC
boss, "the EFCC is not an executive tool. It is a tool of the National
Assembly. We should have an oversight duty as given us by the
Constitution."His voice filled the Chamber, loud, clear, and biting. His
colleagues listened. Nnamani barely suppressed the anger rising in him."If
the report of the EFCC about its investigation about the number two citizen
could be made public, why not that of governors, why not that of council
chairmen? In fact, today, you can read the EFCC report on the Vice President
on the internet. Why can't the same be extended to other public officers?
There should be no sacred cows.

"(Ribadu), please, mention names. Don't hide anything. Bring everything to
the public. Go to court. Tell us about the wanton corruption and cankerworm
that is eating this country." The gallery erupted in cheers. Ribadu
disclosed that in the banking sector, N200 billion has been recovered and $5
billion assets seized.

"When we moved into the ports, within three months, we recovered N30 billion
when we closed the port in Port Harcourt ?.We have leaders in this country
who have stolen billions. From our interactions with overseas bankers, we
now know that the person who has stolen the highest in the world is a
Nigerian "With 2007 knocking at the door, the most important service this
body can offer Nigerians will be a sense of direction, pointing to the goal
toward having God-fearing and level-headed leaders in government at all
tiers. To be sure, the elite are not the only corrupt social group in this
country.

"But we would labour in vain to ignore the fact that as the most organized,
most influential, and most powerful group in society today, they represent
an incredible obstacle to many social reforms, for which the poorest of us
and the most vulnerable of the society are consigned to be the victims. EFCC
targets the enemies of this country and not the law-abiding
citizens."Senator David Mark urged Ribadu to also mention names of indicted
states. He replied: " in the case of Enugu, Governor Chimaroke Nnamani, Sam
Ejiofor, Fred Okoli and an Italian, etc., have been investigated. There is
another set of 34 people (whom) we have not determined that would go to
court or not. The case against them is money laundering, embezzlement,
forgery, misappropriation of funds etc. "In Enugu State, N8 million is
deducted from thelocal council account and it never gets to them. The state
government compels the local council chairmen to raise bank drafts for the
money that never gets to them. What we have confirmed is that the diversion
of the state/local council statutory allocations
since 1999, totalling N2.17 billion, has been misappropriated.
"In respect of other states, Abia is starting first on the list, not because
it is the first alphabetically. We received petitions from elders of the
state where the governor, his mother, his wife, daughter and companies were
used as fronts to defraud the state of N25 billion.

"In Adamawa, we received a petition from Senator Wampana. Nineteen officials
have been indicted. They committed high-scale misappropriation and
arraignment has been concluded. Do I go through all these?" he asked.
Senators egged him on, so he continued: "Investigations are still on-going
in Akwa-Ibom. The outcome ? would be communicated to you. We received
petition from members of the State House of Assembly, members of the cabinet
and 21 local council chairmen against former Governor Chris Ngige. We will
charge him to court. "He laundered huge sums of money through one Princess
Uzo who converted the money to pounds and U.S. dollars for onward
transmission overseas. We received two petitions from two local council
chairmen in Bauchi State on embezzlement and misappropriation.

"A local government chairman in Bayelsa petitioned, while a case of money
laundering, to the tune of N104 million, was established against the
governor wife, Patience Jonathan. N50 billion has also been recovered. "The
case of Benue State is especially pathetic. Governor George Akume went to
the office of the commissioner of police and beat up our officials,
physically beat them and forcefully took the files relating to the case."
Ribadu told the Senate that Borno and Delta are still being investigated
while a case of stealing has been established against 13 council chairmen in
Delta. In Cross River, while the governor is not under probe, two council
chairmen have petitions against them.

"Ekiti has a case to answer. There is also a case against Edo State governor
and four local council chairmen in the state. Same with Ebonyi and Imo." In
Imo, Ribadu said the government and the commissioners collected N56 million
from each council chairman to tar a four-kilometre road each. "Investigation
is still in progress."

In Jigawa, "they take money and send people to Saudi Arabia. There is no
case against the present Kwara State governor. Only his predecessor, Lawal,
would be charged to court. In Kogi State , five local council chairmen would
be prosecuted. We invited the former governor and he ran away to London.
Only three local councils in Katsina State would be prosecuted while Kano
has only two. Kaduna has only one case, the governor would also be
prosecuted. Seven local councils in Lagos State would be taken to court. The
case piled against Lagos is of an international dimension." Only one local
council will face prosecution in Nassarawa, the case in Niger State is
on-going. "Ondo has four while Oyo, Ogun, Osun, and Plateau States have
cases against them.

In Rivers, we will take three local councils to court and there is also a
case against the governor. There is a case against the Sokoto State
Government and three individuals. In Taraba, there was established a case of
abuse of office against the government and the State House of Assembly. From
our own calculation, we may likely go to court against 15 states."Senator
Abiola Ajimobi (AD, Oyo) was not impressed. He accused the EFCC of targeting
certain individuals in the society.

"Don't tell us that you are not selective because we know that you are. Why
didn't you start your probe from the Presidency? Why is it that it is only
when petitions are written to you that you conduct an investigation? Is
there no in-house mechanism to start investigations? If the PTDF probe was
not brought up, would you have probed it? " Ajimobi asked.

Ribadu replied: "When you talk about the President, the first thing we did
when we got to the Metropolitan Police in the United Kingdom to assist us
was to give them names of Nigerian leaders. The first name we gave them was
that of the President. You people say we are selective but if we are, I
don't believe that the FBI, CIA and other international agencies would also
be selective. "It was in the course of this that we got the case of the
former Bayelsa State governor and Plateau State governor. Most of the cases
we are investigating came from outside the country. These two were caught
with money, same with Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Lagos State
Military Administrator Buba Marwa. We didn't initiate cases. If there is a
selective charge, it should go to the international agencies. We didn't tell
these people to go and keep monies outside.

"Up till now, not a single person from opposition has been taken by the EFCC
but that doesnt mean that we will not. The case of the Nigeria Ports
Authority (NPA) that you mention is still on. What happened was that we
submitted our report to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and it was
returned that the EFCC should conduct a criminal investigation, which would
be concluded soon."