Tobias Sylvester
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has set up an investigative team to probe four outgoing governors for corruption once they officially hand over on May 29th.
The governors are Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State, Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State and Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State.
Yari was alleged to have diverted N500million and $500,000 from the state coffers in 2017.
The money, part of Paris Club refunds disbursed to states, was recovered from two firms, First Generation Mortgage Bank Limited, and Gosh Projects Limited, linked to Yari.
Also, Amosun would be investigated following a petition written by the Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate, accusing Amosun of misappropriation of N4billion Anchor Borrowers’ Fund given to the state by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The group claimed that Amosun deceived Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor, when he came to the state for inspection while also insisting that Amosun has abandoned the project and diverted the funds for personal use.
On his part, Okorocha was accused of moving over N1billion from the state government to aid the campaign activities of Uche Nwosu, his son-in-law.
The commission had arrested Uzoho Casmir, Accountant-General of Imo State, for assisting Okorocha to move the said funds.
Ahmed, outgoing Governor of Kwara State, was said to have successfully diverted the sum of N1billion from the state coffers, a few days before presidential election.
The EFCC had earlier arrested six commissioners and government officials who might be involved in the criminal act.
The commission stated that bank officials have been invited for questioning and have also made documents available to the commission.
The EFCC confirmed that investigations are ongoing and any political office holder found culpable of corruption would be prosecuted.
