The arrest, detention and the subsequent arraignment of four former governors by the EFCC have attracted mixed feelings among Nigerians who are of the opinion that the anti-graft agency must prosecute the cases diligently so as to restore people’s confidence in anti-graft war, reports BAYO OLADEJI.
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Undoubtedly, four butterflies of yesterday’s men have been entrapped in the cobweb of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and by implication they are now suspended from dancing until the dust is settled on their arrest, detention and arraignments in their different states where their words were once an order that must be enforced but today the reverse is the case.
Once again the war against corruption is back on course with the arraignment of three former governors who allegedly looted the public treasury to the whopping tune of N100 billion at the expense of the populace.
And the fact that the troubled ex-governors are card carrying members of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) might be a big plus for President Goodluck Jonathan that his government is ready to prosecute the anti-graft war to its logical conclusion.
Unarguably, the action of the EFCC in the last few days have shown the cynical populace that the anti-graft war is not yet over and that it could still bare its fangs after what seemed to be an endless ceasefire against the yesterday’s men who are still lording themselves over the people after their disappointing misrule.
What remains to be seen is the sincerity of the anti-graft panel to prosecute them to the level of conviction but at least they in the net for their alleged moral perfidy.
Those who fall under the anti-graft hammer include Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State, Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State, Aliyu Akwe Doma of Nasarawa State and the fourth is former Gombe State governor Danjuma Goje who was declared wanted while he was in far away abroad before he would surrender himself to his arrester.
Senator Goje still remains a VIP guest of the EFCC as he has not been arraigned not to talk of granting him any bail while filling this report.
Some ex-governors who were there before them include but not limited to Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, Joshua Dariye of Plateau, a former Governor of Edo State, Chief Lucky Igbinedion, had been convicted of corruption.
Others are Jolly Nyame (Taraba), Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu), Orji Kalu (Abia), Boni Haruna (Adamawa), and Rashidi Ladoja (Oyo), Senator Adamu Abdullahi of Nasarawa, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu who joined the league with his arraignment before the Code of Conduct Tribunal which sparked protest from the camp of the opposition, which accused the Federal Government of trying to intimidate the opposition.
Of the lot, only two of the cases have been concluded with the conviction of Igbinedion and the loss of James Ibori who later escaped justice by a whisker. The EFCC has not been spared of being docile and lack-lustered with the way and manner the anti-graft war is being prosecuted and in fact the United States Government has called for the removal of the EFCC chairperson, Farida Waziri time without number in the recent past.
Although Waziri has been pointing an accusing finger to the judiciary but not a few believed the anti-graft panel has been found wanting in the preparation of the on-going cases. Political observers strongly believed the EFCC always put the cart before the horse by making the arrest first before investigation and whenever they meet a brick wall its lawyers would begin buying time co-operating with the defence lawyers which has reduced the whole war into a dress rehearsal or an act of playing to the gallery.
This is largely responsible for the erosion of credibility and public confidence since those who are on trial have either remained on the streets enjoying the alleged loots or even become elevated to become senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
But from all indications, the EFCC is set to prove its cynics wrong going by refusing to allow Alao-Akala, Daniel and Doma to be arraigned in Abuja as sought to prevent them from challenging the jurisdiction of the court. Some former governors arraigned in Abuja in the past challenged the court’s jurisdiction and won.
The EFCC may also have obtained the list of foreign accounts of the former governors and those used to launder money abroad.
The EFCC is expected?? to split the trial of the ex-governors.
While they will face trial for stealing at the State High Court, they will be charged separately with money laundering at the Federal High Court. The Federal High Court cannot entertain some issues bordering on stealing depending on the law under which the governors are charged.
Danjuma Goje while reacting to his being decalred wanted had in a statement signed by his media aide, Mallam Yahaya Mohammed vowed to defend the allegations of corruption leveled against him, said there is no justification for EFCC to declare him wanted.
The statement reads: “There was no need by the EFCC to have declared me wanted. I was out of the country when I learnt that the EFCC had declared me wanted; there was no justification for its action.
As former governor who served this nation for eight years and currently a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I am ever ready to defend my action at all time.
The allegation of corruption against me cannot stand.
All financial resources entrusted in my care as governor of Gombe State were judiciously used. The records are there for everybody to access.
“It is illogical for any body to have accused me of diverting N52 billion when you look at all the outstanding projects I executed in eight years.
This is the price you pay for leadership in a country like our nation where all public officials are seen as corrupt people. I have no regret serving this nation. I will appear before the EFCC on Monday.
I am ready to answer all questions about the purported corrupt practices.”
Goje, a senator had gone to honour the invitation on Monday and subsequently detained with a view to arraigning him in his home state the way the other trio have been.
Alao-Akala, and two other persons have been arraigned before High Court in Ibadan with a list of an 11 count-charge bordering on abuse of office to awarding contracts without budget provision and obtaining by false pretence.
The two other persons are Senator Hosea Ayoola Agboola and Mr. Olufemi Ademola Babalola, a private businessman.
The trio were alleged to have defrauded the state of over N11 billion during the former governor’s? four year tenure.
Agboola, now a serving Senator at the National Assembly was formerly the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, while Babalola was a contractor with the state government.
They were also accused of offences ranging from conspiracy to obtain by false pretence contrary to section 8 of the advance fee fraud and other related offences act, concealing the genuine ownership of two properties in London and conspiracy to award contract/awarding contract without budget provision; an offence which is punishable under section 22 (4) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.
The three accused persons, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges, when it was read to them.
Thereafter, counsel to EFCC, Mr. Godwin Obla, asked the court to fix a date for their trial. However, counsel to the accused persons, Mr. Mamman Osuman (SAN), who led three other senior advocates, Chief Bola Ayorinde, N. O. Oke, and 17 other lawyers told the court that he had filed an application for bail.
The arraignment of the immediate past governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, EFCC, over alleged mismanagement of N58 billion has taken place after the initial delays and the allegations revealed how the former governor allegedly fleeced the state.
In the first count of the charge, Daniel was alleged to have on 31st Mach, 2010, fraudulently converted a sum of $1,000,000 property of the state government being part of the funds allegedly deposited in the Ogun State Government domiciliary account with First City Monument Bank to acquire shares of Glanvill Enthoven and Company (Nigeria) Limited.
On the second count charge, on April 8, 2010, Daniel was alleged to have fraudulently converted an aggregate sum of $2,000,000 million worth property of Ogun State Government being part of the funds deposited in the state’s domiciliary account with First City Monument Bank, to acquire shares of Glanvill Enthoven and Company (Nigeria) Limited.
On count three, Daniel on 8th April, 2010 was accused of fraudulently converting the sum of $1,000,000 million property of Ogun State Government being part of the funds deposited in the Ogun State Government domiciliary account with FCMB which he used to acquire shares of 21st Century Technology Limited.
The fourth count charge accused him of defrauding the state, having allegedly converted the Judges Quarters at GRA Sagamu to his private use by building his personal house known as Asoludero Court.
This property he was said to have acquired in the name of Blue Chapel Limited, a company where he was said to have interest but not authorised by the trust. On the fifth count charge, the former governor was said to have with intent, defrauded and converted the Judges’ Quarters at Ijebu-Ode to the use of Conference Hotels Limited, a company it was said that he, (Daniel) had interest but not authorized by the trust.
The sixth count charge had it that Daniel on or before 13th September, 2006, with intent to defraud the state, converted 2.011 hectares of land situated within the Secretariat Complex along Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida Boulevard, Abeokuta, Ogun State, to the use of Golf Place Resort Hotels Limited, a company which it was said, he had interest but was not authorized by the trust.
In the seven count charge, Daniel was said to have in 2005 with intent defraud and converted a 4,107 hectares of land within Scheme 1, Area, Riverview Estate, Isheri, along Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, Isheri, Ogun State to the use of Westerner Publishing Company Limited, a company it was said that he had interest.
The ex-governor on the eight-count charge was accused of fraudulently converting the sum of N1, 103,294,648.61 billion properties of Ogun State local government councils which deduction he made from their November 2009 statutory allocation.
The ninth count charge read that Daniel, sometimes in July 2009, fraudulently converted a sum of N1, 061,155,624.55 property of Ogun State local government councils which deduction he allegedly made form their November 2009 Statutory Allocation.
Particulars of Count 10 had it that Daniel sometime in October 2009 within the jurisdiction of the honourable Court while being the Executive Governor of Ogun State fraudulent converted to his own, the sum of N1,094,282,667.10, property of Ogun State Local Government Councils which deduction you made from their November 2009 Statutory Allocation.
The statement of count 12 read that Daniel sometime in August, 2009 within the jurisdiction of the honourable court whilst being the Executive Governor of Ogun State fraudulently converted to his own use, the sum of N1,051,218,881.46 property of Ogun State local government councils which deduction you made from their November, 2009 statutory allocation.
On count 13, the former governor was accused of not declaring his interest in Glanvil Enthoven and Company (Nigeria) Limited, a company in which he was alleged to have acquired interest while he was governor.
Particulars of count 14 stated that Daniel made a declaration that was false by not declaring his interest in 21st Century Technology Limited, a company in which he was said to have acquired interest while he governed the state between 2003 and 2011.
Count-15 also charged the ex-governor to have on 11th October, 2011, within the jurisdiction of the honourable court, knowingly made a declaration that was false by not declaring his interest in Conference Hotels Limited, a company where he allegedly acquired interest while he was governor.
Particulars of the count 16 said that Daniel on 11th October, 2011 within the jurisdiction of the honourable court knowingly made a declaration that was false by not declaring his interest in Golf Place Resort Hotel Limited, a company in which he was alleged to have interest while in office.
While the court proceeding lasted, supporters of the ex-governor who had stormed the court premises and another group believed to be opposed to him, chanted both pro and anti-Daniel slogans.
It took the swift intervention of the Police and other security operatives to prevent a breakdown of law and order as the two groups made inciting statements.
In a related development, the anti-graft agency has detailed how the detained immediate past governor of Gombe State, Danjuma Goje, allegedly perpetrated N52 billion fraud while in office between 2003 and 2011.
The documentation was contained in an 18-count charge of money laundering and misappropriation of public funds, filed against him on Wednesday morning at the Federal High Court in Gombe by the anti-corruption commission.
The charge was filed by the prosecuting counsel, Mr Wahab Shittu.
In count one of the charge, the commission disclosed that the former governor spent N5 billion on supply of food to the Government House during his eight-year rule.
The count read in part: “That you, Danjuma Goje, between 2003 and 2011, conspired with four others to steal N5 billion through supply of food to the Gombe State Government House.”
According to the commission, Goje gave the controversial contract to his cousin, Alhaji Sambo Muhammed Tumu, who was also charged along with him.
Tumu was said to have been the sole supplier of food items to the Government House throughout Goje’s stay in office. Goje is also said to be having a separate charge for which he would face trial at the state High Court like the trio of former governor of Ogun State, Chief Gbenga Daniel, his Oyo and Nasarawa state counterparts, Adebayo Alao-Akala and Aliyu Akwe-Doma.
But one of loopholes in the anti-graft war is the overlapping of responsibilities between the ICPC and the EFCC. Although the former was created before the latter but the efforts of the anti-graft agency during the Nuhu Ribadu overshadowed the ICPC and while ICPC was sleeping, EFCC went and stole its responsibilities and started fighting corruption.
According to a former Senator, Lawal Shuaibu who played prominent roles in the midwifery of the two agencies, there is nothing in the book that gives power to the EFCC to investigate or arraign anyone for alleged corruption. He made this disclosure in an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP recently and since then no one, not even the EFCC has faulted him.
Hear him, “… I can tell you, check the law establishing the EFCC from the first to the last page there is nowhere the word corruption appears.
Their mandate is specific; they are strictly responsible for the enforcement of the miscellaneous offences, the Advance Fee Fraud and the Related Offences Act, The Money Laundry Act, The Failed Bank Act.
“But nowhere the law says corruption, but today EFCC is described as anti-graft agency, it is never an anti-graft agency and the people working there too are calling it anti-graft body, where do they get the power to fight corruption? Who gave them the mandate? Who told them they are anti-graft?
They are not. The chairman of the EFCC is a lawyer, she knows the book and she knows she is not supposed to be fighting corruption and she is fighting corruption, why is she fighting corruption? Why can’t she correct it? They run after perceived enemies of their master they forget the primary mandate given to them by law.
They will arrest, they will not even know what the offence is but they will tell you, you are under arrest and they will arrest you, they will take your statement, they will tell you under what they have power to ask you to write your statement and you have no right to ask them what law to be able to know if they have the right to arrest you, under what section of the law?
If they tell you, you will know if they have such a power to do it.
The EFCC has no right to investigate or prosecute corruption. We know fighting corruption is the business of everybody even when you are not a member of the ICPC or EFCC but to arrest you, the only agency that is empowered to arrest you by law is the ICPC. But the EFCC will arrest you and take you to court and even judges will listen to them!”
But on the plan to merge the two agencies, Shuaibu now the scribe of the ACN said it is wrong to do so instead he wants the roles of the two to be well spelled out with a caution to the EFCC to stop making inroad into the territory of the ICPC.
His words, “I don’t support the idea of merging these two agencies, because the reasons for their establishment still subsist. But simply, get the right people in the right place, all things they are talking about the chairman of the EFCC, I can tell you; they have the right, if they don’t want her there to bring in the right person that can fight corruption if they have the political will to fight corruption.
“The problem is not Mrs. Waziri at all, the problem is the government, if they think she cannot fight corruption, they have the right to remove her.
Under the law, the power to remove her where her continued staying in office is not in public interest is very clear.
You can remove her, because of what the international community is saying, because what they are saying is true, the fight against corruption has gone low, the respect for the EFCC has been diminished. In fact people are no longer respecting the EFCC.”
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