 |
| Gorge Akume and Suswuam |
Senate President Bukola Saraki, factional Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, Ali Modu Sheriff; and Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, are among 31 former governors whose alleged corruption cases investigated by the anti-graft agencies are likely to be reopened soon. The PUNCH had exclusively reported on Tuesday that the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, had written to the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission, directing the reopening of the cases of the ex-governors.
Senate President Bukola Saraki,
factional Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, Ali Modu Sheriff; and
Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, are among 31 former governors whose
alleged corruption cases investigated by the anti-graft agencies are likely to
be reopened soon.
The PUNCH had exclusively
reported on Tuesday that the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of
Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, had written to the Chairman of the Independent
Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission, directing the
reopening of the cases of the ex-governors.
It was learnt on Wednesday that the
AGF had called for the case files of the former state governors.
The PUNCH obtained the list of
the former governors, who were named in the AGF’s letter, on Wednesday.
The list contains the names of
Saraki, a former Governor of Kwara State; Akpabio (a former Governor of Akwa
Ibom State, and Sheriff (an ex-Governor of Borno State).
Other former governors include Orji
Uzor Kalu (Abia); Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu); Saminu Turaki (Jigawa); Sule
Lamido (Jigawa); Joshua Dariye (Plateau); Ahmed Yerima (Zamfara); Gabriel
Suswam (Benue); Martin Elechi (Ebonyi); Danjuma Goje (Gombe) and Murtala Nyako
(Adamawa).
They also include Ikedi Ohakim
(Imo); Obong Victor Attah (Akwa Ibom); Achike Udenwa (Imo); Abdullahi Adamu
(Nasarawa); Gbenga Daniel (Ogun); Jolly Nyame (Taraba); Boni Haruna (Adamawa);
George Akume (Benue); Rashidi Ladoja (Oyo); Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto) and
Adebayo Alao-Akala.
Others are Usman Dakingari (Kebbi);
Adamu Mu’azu (Bauchi); Peter Odili (Rivers), and Lucky Igbindedion (Edo).
Part of the AGF’s letter to the
ICPC, sighted by our correspondent on Monday, indicated that the cases against
some of the former governors were investigated some years ago, but charges were
never filed against them.
The letter partly read, “It is clear
that some of these governors and other politically-exposed persons have not
been charged to court despite the fact that the ICPC has concluded their
investigations, concerning allegations levelled against them, for one reason or
the other.
“It is the position of the present
administration that all ex-governors, who the ICPC had long concluded
investigations into the various allegations levelled against them, should be
immediately prosecuted.”
The letter also gave the Chairman of
the ICPC a 14-day ultimatum to “remit the duplicate case files concerning the
politically-exposed persons investigated by the ICPC over the years” to the office
of the AGF.
Our correspondent confirmed on
Wednesday that the AGF had sent a similar request to the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission with the same list of former governors annexed to his letter.
The PUNCH had reported that
some of the ex-governors, according to one of the sources, include some, who
had been convicted on charges preferred against them by the EFCC.
Some of them also had their cases
terminated before full-blown trial could begin.
Others are currently undergoing
trial on charges initiated against them by the EFCC at either the various
divisions of the Federal High Court or the High Courts of their home states.
There are about five of the former
governors, who are now said to be serving senators.
The affected personalities, it was
learnt, served as governors for either one or two terms between 1999 and 2015,
and are from all the six geopolitical zones of the country.
It was also confirmed that the
majority of those on the list belonged to the two dominant political parties,
the All Progressives Congress and the People’s Democratic Party.
Another source also confirmed that a
former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori, who was convicted in the United
Kingdom for fraud-related charges and still serving his prison terms, was on
the list.
Apart from Ibori, two former
governors from the South-South, are said to be on the list.
Five of the former governors are
from the South-East, and three from the South-West.
The PUNCH was informed that the
ex-governors, whose cases would be reopened, included six from the North-West;
six from the North-East, and eight from the North-Central.
The AGF letter defines high-profile
cases as cases “involving alleged misconduct amounting to economic sabotage;
involving complex financial transactions or property movement; involving any of
the suspects, who is a politician, a public officer or judicial officer; and
where the subject matter involves government or corruption of its official or
involves the abuse of office.”
Such judiciary officers, it was
learnt, would include judges allegedly involved in economic sabotage, including
financial transactions.
The AGF’s letter to both the ICPC
and EFCC indicated that AGF’s request for the case files was in the exercise of
his powers vested in the AGF by Section 174(1) of the Constitution as well as
sections 105 (3) and 106 (a) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.
Our correspondent’s findings showed
on Wednesday that ICPC and EFCC had yet to respond to the AGF’s request.
EmoticonEmoticon