Former governors: Will EFCC, ICPC spare the rod?

In spite of N152bn shared from the Excess Crude Oil Account in December by their predecessors, new state governors are groaning under heavy indebtedness and empty treasuries they inherited, NIYI ODEBODE writes This appears to be the season of anti-graft agencies, particularly the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The season usually begins after general elections, when the agencies beam their light on those who have just left office. It ebbs towards the end of the four-year tenure of political office holders and in many instances, the cases drag on endlessly.

The EFCC Chairman, Mrs. Farida Waziri, recently told the commission’s success story. She disclosed that the agency had recovered N1.7tn in the last eight years. She further said since her assumption of office, two and half years ago, the commission had handled 105 cases involving politically exposed persons. Out of the 105, 36 convictions were recorded, while 75 cases are still under trial.

Since the beginning of the month, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, and his deputy, Alhaji Bayero Nafada, have been in the eye of the storm. The Ogun State-born former Speaker was initially arraigned over N894m contract scam in the House. He was granted bail on Monday and arraigned together with Nafada, over alleged N40bn loans obtained from the United Bank of Africa and the First Bank.

Bankole and Nafada’s trials are not the first in recent times. Cases involving some former governors who were said to be on the EFCC’s advisory list had received wide coverage by the media. The former governors include Rev. Jolly Nyame (Taraba); Mr. Ayo Fayose (Ekiti); Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto); Senator Joshua Dariye (Plateau); Alhaji Saminu Turaki (Jigawa); Mr. Boni Haruna (Adamawa); Chief Lucky Igbinedion (Edo) and Senator Abudullahi Adamu (Nasarawa).

At least two of the governors – Dariye and Adamu, are now senators having won the last National Assembly election, four – Fayose; Turaki; Haruna and Turaki –lost their bid to go to the Senate.

Like Bankole and Nafada, many had expected some former governors, who left office on May 29 to be guests of the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission because of the myriad of petitions against them. But from all indications, the agencies are not in a hurry to invite the 2007-2011 set of governors.

The former governors themselves are aware of this as some of them have dared the anti-graft agencies, saying they nurse no fears. Their body language even suggests that they consider the agencies lame ducks that cannot threaten their political careers. Some were even said to have cited the case of a former Peoples Democratic Party Chairman, Chief Bode George, who still calls the shot in Lagos PDP in spite of his conviction for graft charges.

An aide of one of the former governors, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent, “There is no cause for alarm. What has happened to those who have been on trial and those who have been charged to court?”

A few days to the May 29 inauguration, feelers from the EFCC indicated that former governors, including Otunba Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State; Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State; Chief Ikedi Ohakim (Imo State); and Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau (Kano State) would be summoned by the commission.

The EFCC was said to commenced investigations into the allegations against the former governors, but could not charge them to court because of the immunity clause, which has been a refuge for corrupt state executives and their deputies.

Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution provides immunity from court proceedings, that is, proceedings that will compel the attendance of elected executive officers, namely the President and his deputy and the governors of the states and their deputies.

In spite of the fact that the former governors are no more enjoying immunity, neither the EFCC nor the ICPC has summoned them for questioning.

When the anti-graft agencies extend their tentacles to the former governors, Daniel, for example, will be quizzed over a petition submitted to the EFCC by a former chairman of the Ijebu-East Local Government Area, Mr. Tunde Oladunjoye.

In the petition, Daniel is alleged to have made illegal deductions from council funds; a move that crippled the activities of local government administration in the state.

The petition reads in part, “In June 2009, many local government chairmen wrote to the governor, asking him to pay the exact amount of their respective teachers’ salaries instead of the overbearing deductions on the pretext of teachers’ salaries.

“Worse still, the governor started giving equal allocations to the local government councils in November 2009, even when our allocations from FAAC are not equal.”

But the former governor, who has multiple chieftaincy titles, has remained unshaken. Reacting to the allegations against him, former state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Sina Kawonise, said, “Otunba Gbenga Daniel ruled the state with honesty and forthrightness in the last eight years. So, he has no skeleton in his cupboard. As a public office holder, he is not ignorant of the fact that at any point in time, one may be called upon for questioning. So, as the servant of the people, he is ever ready when such invitations become necessary, as he has served the state with honesty, diligence, prudence and to the best of his ability.”

On May 27, Daniel left the country under the watchful eyes of security agents. His former Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Adegbenro Adebanjo, denied reports that he fled the country to avoid prosecution by the EFCC.

Adebanjo stated, ““It is important to note that the former governor had informed all the security chiefs in Ogun State, three weeks earlier, about his intention to leave the country for a short rest on May 27. He did not go through any illegal route. This cannot be the disposition of a man fleeing the country.”

Alao-Akala too has not been invited by either the EFCC or the ICPC. Eight of his aides were quizzed on Monday by the ICPC over alleged N8.5bn fraud.

But the former governor is not losing sleep over reports on the EFCC and ICPC’s investigations. A few weeks before he left office, he boasted, “Because I know that I don’t have any skeleton in my cupboard, I’m not afraid of investigations by the EFCC. I did not get myself involved in any shady deal because I have a name to protect. My name is an asset. It is good that I leave a good name for my children who will like to use the name in future. I won’t do anything that will tarnish the name. When I read a media report that I was being investigated over an N8bn deal, I laughed because such money will just make me mad.”

The EFCC has been commended for waking up from its slumber, at least as far as the trials of Bankole and Nafada are concerned. Many are of the opinion that the commission and its sister agency, ICPC, should beam their light on other arms and levels of government.

For example, the federal, state and local governments were reported to have shared $1bn (about N152bn) from the Excess Crude Oil Savings Account. According to The PUNCH’s report on January 3, state governors were said to have mounted pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan to share the money to “tackle the huge infrastructure deficit in their states.”

Although the past Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Dr. Bukola Saraki, denied that the state chief executives mounted pressure on the President, reports emanating from various states since the May 29 inauguration are frightening. The infrastructure in most states is nothing to write home about.

The new administration in Ogun State inherited a debt of N49.2bn, which it said included cash liabilities of N26.4bn and contingent liabilities of N22.7bn.

The Abiola Ajimobi administration in Oyo State, contrary to the claim of its predecessor, said it inherited N4.8bn debt. It further alleged that the former governor hurriedly withdrew N3bn from the state account during the last five days of his administration, saying the sum was withdrawn from a special account designated for the payment of pensioners

But the PDP Secretary in the state, Alhaji Basiru Akanbi, denied the allegation, describing it as unfounded rumour. He challenged Ajimobi to tell the world whether the money was meant for personal purpose or to pay contractors. He said the former governor had paid contractors and settled severance allowances.

In Nasarawa State, the new Governor, Alhaji Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, said he inherited a debt of N27bn from his predecessor, Alhaji Aliyu Doma. Apart from the debt, there is a backlog of arrears of remunerations, including N700m retirement and pension benefits for local government workers, and N800m for state workers.

Some of the new governors have lamented that their predecessors embarked on “unscrupulous” borrowing from financial institutions, including banks, in the last six months of their tenure with no expenditure evidence.

With all these allegations, the EFCC and the ICPC must not limit their anti-graft war to the House of Representatives and a former Works Minister, Dr. Hasan Lawal. Nigerians must know how former governors spent the funds from the excess crude oil account. For the agencies not to tread the path of former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s anti-graft war, what is sauce for the goose should also be sauce for the gander. The war should be total and there should be no sacred cows.