6 ex-governors to face the music

2007-10-24 08:34

Abuja - Nigeria's top corruption investigator said on Tuesday that up to six ex-governors will be charged by the end of the year, a major development in a country, where having high-level connections had long offered a shield from prosecution.

Nuhu Ribadu, chairperson of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, refused to identify the men, saying he was afraid "they will run". But, he said, up to six would face charges in the next two months.

Ribadu said: "Definitely more governors will be charged. Governors are so afraid, wherever they go now."

The governors of Nigeria's 36 states lost their immunity from prosecution after their terms ended. Many had been suspected of raiding public coffers - and leaving their constituents impoverished - while they hide their ill-gotten gains outside the country.

5 ex-governors prosecuted

Under Nigeria's federal system, states received much of the government's funds and were charged with providing schools, health clinics and other basic services to their people.

State budgets could reach beyond $1bn a year, particularly in the southern oil region, where budgets were even higher and graft particularly rife.

Since President Umaru Yar'Adua took power in May, the EFCC had begun prosecuting five former governors and had won the conviction of one who had been previously charged.

The crackdown was a signal to many in Nigeria that Yar'Adua was trying to make good on his pledge to stamp out graft in a country that was considered one of the most corrupt in the world.

Ribadu, a former police officer and prosecutor who boasted that he sent more people to jail than anyone else in Nigeria, said: "For us to win this war against corruption, we have to start at the top and trickle down."

Anti-corruption drive

He said: "Elites are the ones who destroy the rule of law." Ribadu's agency was set up in 2004 as part of an anti-corruption drive by then-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Nigeria was Africa's largest oil exporter and the fifth-largest supplier of crude to the United States. But despite producing tens of billions of dollars worth of crude every year, few Nigerians had access to clean water or electricity.

Ribadu said he senses an increased intolerance for corruption in Nigeria, pointing to the public outcry over the case of the speaker of the House of Representatives.

Patricia Etteh, a former beautician and ruling party member, was accused of irregularities in spending $5m of government money to renovate two official residences and buy 12 cars.

Earlier this month, Nigerian members of Parliament traded blows - and one of them later died of a heart attack - during a debate over the allegations.

Etteh had denied wrongdoing, but at a previous appearance before the National Assembly she was greeted with chants of "Thief! Thief!"

"There is a silent revolution triggered by this fight against corruption," said Ribadu.

- AP