ANOTHER major offensive in the war against corruption was launched by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which yesterday arrested three former governors over alleged diversion and misappropriation of funds. They are
Gbenga Daniel (Ogun), Adebayo Alao-Akala (Oyo) and Aliu Akwe-Doma (Nasarawa).
Daniel was arrested for allegedly misappropriating N58.5 billion; Alao-Akala is in EFCC’s net over N25 billion while Akwe Doma is being held for N18 billion.
The EFCC’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, who confirmed the arrests to The Guardian, disclosed that Daniel and Alao-Akala were being detained at the commission’s office in Lagos while Doma was being held for interrogation in Abuja.
With yesterday’s arrests, the number of former governors on the EFCC prosecution list at present has swollen.
Others on the list are Jolly Nyame (Taraba), Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto), Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), Ayo Fayose (Ekiti), Joshua Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu), Boni Haruna (Adamawa) and Rasheed Ladoja (Oyo). A former deputy governor of Plateau State, Michael Botmang, is also being prosecuted by EFCC and will be going to court this month.
Alao-Akala’s spokesman, Dotun Oyelade, confirmed the arrest of his boss, saying: “To the best of my knowledge, Alao Akala was billed to attend the pan-Yoruba conference at Ikenne this morning to which he and other Yoruba leaders have been invited.
As I communicate with you now, the former governor is on his way to Abuja on the invitation of the EFCC. He was never arrested as he left to honour the invitation on his own as a law-abiding citizen.
Alao-Akala had said before leaving office that being a former policeman, he would not be a fool to sign out any money because he had full knowledge of how government runs. He vowed that he would never dip his hands in the coffers of the state; the noise being made by his opponents then were nothing but empty noise that would not bother him.”
Six of Alao-Akala’s commissioners had been arrested and are being investigated by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Offences Related Commission (ICPC) over alleged financial impropriety.
Governor Abiola Ajimobi and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) had, after assuming office, cried out over the poor financial standing of the state and accused Alao-Akala of misappropriating the funds.
Alao-Akala was arrested in his Ibadan home as he prepared to attend the lying-in-state of a former governor of the state, Kolapo Ishola.
Festus Adedayo, Special Adviser to Ajimobi on Media, said that in as much as the current government does not want to gloat over Alao-Akala’s arrest, its only interest is that the law takes its course.
“Though the arrest is a vindication of our earlier allegation of the predatory clean-up of the state’s patrimony for four years by the Alao-Akala government, the present government does not want to gloat over the fate of the former governor. We only enjoin both the EFCC and the judiciary to allow justice to be done,” Adedayo said in a statement.
Daniel was arrested at his Asoludero home in Sagamu, Ogun State at about 12.05 p.m.
He had earlier in the morning visited Ikenne, the country home of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, to attend the maiden Pan-Yoruba Summit organised by the Yoruba Unity Forum but hurriedly left the venue of the programme when he learnt of the presence of EFCC officials in his house.
Media aide to the former governor, Mr. Adebanjo Adegbenro, confirmed the arrest to journalists in a telephone interview that the officials of EFCC stormed Daniel’s residence while he was away to Ikenne.
Adegbenro added: “The former governor as a law abiding citizen of the country left the venue of the programme when he got to know about those visitors waiting for him. Daniel remains confident that he would be vindicated as the petitions written against him that may have formed the basis of his investigation by the EFCC are politically motivated.”
And in what became an instant dialogue between the United States (U.S.) and Nigerian officials in the presence of American investors in Washington DC, the question of the appointment by the Federal Government of those to lead Nigeria’s fight against corruption was raised again.
United States Ambassador Terry McCulley, who was represented by a senior American Embassy official from Abuja, Rebecca Armand, the Commercial Counselor, stated categorically that corruption remains one of the most significant hindrances to doing business in Nigeria and there is the need to appoint leaders for the anti-corruption agencies whose integrity was above board.
Prof. Adebowale Adefuye, Nigeria’s Ambassador to the U.S., quickly responded, saying there “are so many more Nigerians with unquestionable integrity.”
Courtesy: The Guardian (Nigeria)