High profile corruption cases filed over five years ago are
still at plea stages, even as the accused persons have returned to
political and economic prominence
|
Some Politically Exposed Persons, with pending corruption cases. |
At a 2006 plenary session of the Senate, Nuhu Ribadu, then Chairman of
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, appeared to answer
questions on why the agency had failed to submitthe annual report of
its activities to the Senate as stipulated by the act establishing it.
Noble as the reason given for Ribadu’s invitation seemed, many
Nigerians suspected that the Senate’s call for accountability in the
EFCC was provoked by the fear of Ribadu who, in the opinion of many of
the senators, had become a monster. By then, the EFCC under Ribadu had
not only abetted the impeachment of at least two state governors, but
had successfully prosecuted and secured the conviction of Tafa Balogun,
an Inspector-General of Police, whose tenure was blighted by greed.
Ribadu
told the senators that the EFCC had investigated many sitting governors
and dug up dirt on them, but the Commission could not move against them
because of constitutional immunity. The senators pressured Ribadu to
reveal the names of the governors being investigated as well as their
alleged offences. “Abia is number one, not because it is number one
alphabetically, but because we have one of the biggest established cases
of stealing, money laundering, diversion of funds against Governor
(Orji) Kalu,” said Ribadu, who explained that 31 governors were being
investigated for various forms of corrupt practices. With the
disclosure, it was not surprising that Orji Uzor Kalu was one of the
governors swooped on by the EFCC immediately after he left office in
2007.
Continue reading after the cut...