22 October 2008
Lagos — From Sufuyan Ojeifo in Abuja, Tunde Saani in Ibadan and Charles Ajunwa in Lagos
For Nigerians seething over reports that the case files of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and 31 ex-governors alleged to be corrupt are missing, there is now some relief.
Chairman of the Indep-endent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, said yesterday that the files on the ex-governors being investigated by his commission for alleged corrupt practices while in office are intact.
Ayoola also said ICPC officers working on the files of the ex-governors had submitted their preliminary reports to him.
The former Supreme Court judge spoke with newsmen at the launch of "The Law In His Hands," a collection of judgments of Justice Bolarinwa Babalakin, which took place at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos.
He said some of the ex-governors whom he refused to name had been recommended by the reports for further investigations.
The ICPC chairman said the commission would release its report on the ex-governors only when it deemed necessary, explaining that nobody could stampede it into making any pronouncements now.
Ayoola's statement seems to be at variance with that of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman, Mrs. Farida Waziri, who said her commission did not have any case against Obasanjo and 31 ex-governors declared corrupt by her predecessor, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.
Speaking with newsmen last week in Abuja at the 5th edition of the National Roundtable for Good Governance organised by the Faculty Board of Initiatives of the House of Representatives, Waziri had said EFCC had no case against Obasanjo.
She had said: "Let me tell you truthfully. I got there, what I found is what I am working with. If there is nothing in the case file, there is nothing I can do. I do not have 31 case files. There is no prima facie case against them to the best of my knowledge. I have not received any petition against President Obasanjo. There is no case file there."
Asked to react to Waziri's statement, the ICPC chairman said he could not comment on the missing files on ex-governors as only the EFCC boss was in a position to do that.
Ayoola also said Nigerians' attitude to corruption had greatly changed now under the administration of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, noting, however, that corruption is not peculiar to Nigeria alone.
"We are working on their files. I cannot give you any useful information now other than that the officers working on the files have just made some preliminary reports, which I'm studying. As soon as we analyse them, it is then we will know those to investigate and those not to investigate," he said.
On the alleged missing files at EFCC, the ICPC chairman said: "Well, I'm not EFCC. I have no view on that. I do not know the files they had. I do not know the files they are supposed to have. So, if the chairman of EFCC says that files are missing I have nothing to say about that."
Meanwhile, EFCC has confirmed in its 2007 audited report to the Senate that 21 ex-governors have issues with the commission.
It was not, however, indicated in the report if the 21 affected ex-governors are the only ones that have issues with the commission or if the commission will continue to investigate other ex-governors in the event that it has credible information linking them with corruption while in office.
The number contrasts with the 31 ex-governors that Ribadu told the Senate were being investigated in 2006.
In the report, which will be discussed at a meeting today between EFCC and the Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics, Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, 10 ex-governors were still under investigation for alleged criminal acts.
The commission said in the report dated September 2008 and signed by Waziri that the investigation of several former governors in 2007 constituted one of its major challenges.
It said that while eight ex-governors were charged to court in 2007, another three had been charged to court this year.
According to the commission, "The period coincided with electioneering and every step in the investigation process was fraught with blackmail even though the facts were compelling and presented strong cases against those investigated.
"With the expiration in May 2007 of the constitutional immunity enjoyed by the former governors as provided by Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution, 8 (eight) ex-governors were charged to court and are still standing trial in various courts.
"Three (3 additional) ex-governors have also recently been charged to court in 2008 while the investigation of 10 (Ten) others has reached an advanced stage."
The commission stated that the charges against the Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) included embezzlement of public funds, abuse of office, money laundering and conspiracy among others.
The commission said it would continue to intensify the investigation of PEPs and ensure that good governance was enthroned in the country.
It thus noted that the accusation of selective prosecution or partisanship "cannot be supported as the commission is always guided by law and the law alone."
In a related development yesterday, ICPC also said it could not build something on nothing; asking Nigerians to assist the commission with evidence to enable it prosecute allegedly corrupt public officers.
Speaking in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, at a three-day training workshop for members of the Anti-Corruption and Transpar-ency Units organised by the office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, an executive member of the commission, Mrs. Dame Julie Nwariaku, said the commission could not act on the basis of rumours.
Nwariaku stood in for the commission's chairman, Ayoola, at the workshop.
In a chat with newsmen after the formal opening of the workshop, Nwariaku called for internal cleansing of all Nigerians for the anti-graft crusade to succeed.
She also spoke on the moves by EFCC to acquire more powers to probe people suspected to be living above their means.
"It is good that such people should be made to account for it. That is how it should be," she said.
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