By HAJIYA HAFSAT M. ZANNA musahafsat@yahoo.com
EFCC:
Where are the 23 corrupt governors?asks Hajiya
Hafsat M Zanna
To most Nigerians it is no longer news and strange that
almost all the 36 Governors as at May 1, 2007 are
corrupt. Former EFCC Chairman Nuhu Ribadu having
conducted thorough investigations into their affairs had
then said that the Governors were found to have
corruptly abused power, personalized their state
treasuries thereby enriched themselves and were
therefore liable to face prosecution. However, Ribadu
was constrained in moving on to prosecute them because
the 1999 Nigerian constitution gave them immunity
against being dragged to any law court for civil or
criminal breaches.
He however, promised to arrest them on May 29, 2007 as
soon as they handed over to their successors. Some of
the unlucky Governors were arrested and arraigned before
various Federal High Courts across the country. Their
cases are now being handled by those courts.
Unfortunately, that was not to be for some of the
governors indicted by the EFCC for reasons best known to
Ribadu.
Despite the open pledge of the current EFCC Chairman,
Farida Waziri to leave no stone unturned in her fight
against corruption without fear or favour and despite
the facts available at her disposal that the Governors
were indicted and that the EFCC was only ready for the
constitutional immunity conferred on them to lapse so
that they can be arrested and arraigned before the
courts, Mrs Waziri has from all indications reneged on
that pledge. One can however, recall that only recently
the EFCC Chair had during a vist to the National
Assembly told the Speaker of the House of
Representatives that her fight against corruption knows
no bounds.
In other words, she will not spare any Nigerian no
matter how highly or lowly placed in the society once he
is found to be corrupt. That sounds great for the
Nigerians whose resources are continuously being
personalized by those entrusted with it. So far
Nigerians have not seeing any confirmation of what Mrs
Waziri’s pledge with the attempt by her predecessor to
move the anti corruption axe against the indicted former
Governors becoming a reality. Probably she is still
studying the files and may soon swing into action. Its
encouraging that EFCC is not a toothless bulldog. The
necessary legal provisions have been put in place for it
and ICPC to be very effective. They must rise up to the
challenge to deal with corruption and corrupt leaders in
all our spheres of life. 
All eyes are now on Mrs Waziri to make it or mar it. We
all are confident that she is out to make a difference
in the fight against corruption which has been a thorn
in the flesh of our national life and consequently had
become a cog in the progress and development of the
country and her nationals.
But going by the lead story of some national dailies
last week, EFCC’s anti corruption agency, Independent
Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC has from all
indications woken up from its slumber and is now trying
hard to steal the show from it.
ICPC came to town with a
list of 23 former Governors that were found to have
corruptly enriched themselves with state resources. ICPC
had said that its conviction that the 23 Governors are
corrupt arose from the findings of a committee it set up
to look into the files of the ex states chief
executives.
It is however, suprising that only 4 of the indicted
Governors that made up the ICPC list were now being
tried by the various courts. These are Saminu Turaki of
Jigawa, Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu, Joshua Dariye of
Plateau and Orji Kalu of Abia state. It is regrettable
that prominent corrupt former Governors like 
James Ibori, Abdullahi Adamu, Adamu Aliero, Donald Duke, Ahmed Makarfi, Adamu Muazu, Ahmed Sani, Bola Tinubu Victor Attah, Lucky Igbenidion and George Akume
are still
walking the streets of Abuja as free citizens despite
the looting of their state treasuries during their
tenure.
I sincerely agree with the proposal sent to the Senate
by the EFCC Chairman that there is need to have a legal
provision that will give the body the right to
confiscate properties of public officials and
politicians that were found to have used public funds in
enriching themselves even before their final conviction.
I am sure most Nigerians will subscribe to this
intention. It will certainly go along way in getting
some, if not all of the stolen funds back to the state.
Mrs Waziri must make a difference. She has being
referred to as a no nonsense police officer before her
retirement as an Assistant Inspector General of Police
some years ago. She must be seeing to be toeing the
lines of Ribadu. She should be an unbiased, impartial
and incorruptible anti corruption czar. She must remain
steadfast, committed and forthright in the discharge of
her duties.
Justice Ayoola and Mrs Waziri of the ICPC and EFCC
respectively need to be reminded that one of President
Yar’adua’s 7-point agenda agenda is the rule of law. One
of the principles of rule of law is for all citizens to
be treated equally. This includes bringing to book all
those corrupt Governors who had looted
their state
treasuries to face the full weight of the law. Nigerians
will expect nothing less.
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