Abuja — The chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Justice Emmanuel Ayoola has said at the weekend in Abuja, that within the next two weeks, the commission would come out with the list of the former state governors found to have violated the provisions of the ICPC Act 2000.

"We are looking at the files. They are 20 or 23 of the former state governors. I believe that in the next two weeks we will know which of them are to be investigated or not.

Some of them are already being prosecuted for money laundering. Money laundering is not in our mandate", Justice Ayoola stated in a press release issued by the spokesman of the commission, Mr. Folu Olawuti.

The ICPC boss said that the Act permits the commission to go after the former state governors once they lost their immunity, noting. We don't need an independent counsel to investigate and prosecute them."

According to him, "We are scrutinising the file to see whether there are cases that we could now pursue. Many of these allegations were committed as far back as 2003. We need to see which of these allegations are motivated for election purposes.

"For this category of people, we don't need an independent counsel. But we have one or two petitions against serving state governors. It is not our responsibilities to appoint independent counsel. What the law says is when we come across such petitions we should pass them to the Chief Justice of the Federation, who has the mandate to appoint independent counsel.

"The Chief Justice will study the allegations and consider whether it is worthwhile to appoint independent counsel to investigate those allegations. When the independent counsel investigates, he does not prosecute. He reports to the legislature. It is for the legislature to take over from there."

Justice Ayoola, in an answer to a question, said that the commission had received a petition calling for a probe of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo, adding that the petition appeared vague but was quick to say that the Special Unit of the commission was studying and analyzing it.

"As far as we are concerned, nobody should feel offended if investigated. It is what the laws say that we will do. It is misconception to look at the status of a person and conclude that you are not going to investigate him. Ayoola also said that setting of special courts might not necessarily solve the problem associated with delay in the prosecution of corrupt related cases, adding," setting up special courts is an option. There is a bill before the National Assembly but with benefit of past experiences, it may probably work for a while but nobody can guarantee that it will be the solution to the problem."

On Senator Wabara's case still pending in Court, Ayoola said that he sympathised with the Senator, stressing, "I think it is unfair to keep a person under that kind of suspense, but the challenge is for the court. The case is still in Court and we just have to wait for the system to perform."

He said the ICPC would request the House of Representatives to forward its report on the probe of the energy sector in order to assist the commission in carrying out a system review in line with its mandate.

The chairman also advocated that performance bonds should henceforth be a condition for the award of contracts to guide against future abandonment of projects by contractors.

He said that the House was yet to forward any report to the commission. We appreciate what they are doing. If we are following what they are doing merely for the purpose of prosecution, we are not going to get maximum benefit from what they are doing.

"We are waiting for them to complete the exercise and whether the report is sent to us for prosecution or not we are going to ask for the transcript. Then, through the transcript, we will see how the system had permitted such things to happen."

While lamenting the "shoddy" way contracts are being awarded in the country, Ayoola said, "We want to see from the transcript where the system is faulty and then suggest reform and review of the system. Even before they started their probe we have on our table a design of review of contracts. I think every contract should have a performance bond so that if the contractor did not perform, the bank will be held liable.

"We are going to use the energy probe as a real case study. We are also going to look at road contracts. We have collected documents in relation to road contracts, not primarily for prosecution but to let us make sure that the system is so well defined and can be monitored so that these things we are seeing now will not be possible again. That is the greatest benefit we can get from the exercise.

"If you jailed all the people involved in the energy sector contracts and the system remains, it will come over and over again," he added.

While calling on Nigerians to show more commitment to the crusade against corruption, he said.

Only a small fraction of act of corruption that are taking place is being reported. The unreported acts of corruption continued to damage the economy, the future and the reputation of the country."

Ayoola also stressed the need for government at all levels to show more interest in the care and welfare of the people, blaming the high incidences of corruption to lack of social security for the people.

"The major cause of corruption is the sense of insecurity of the people. Many people do not know what is going to happen to them once they lose their jobs, even how to get the next food for the day. The fear of social insecurity among Nigerians is very much real. Social security must be restored as a primary concern of the governments."