Ever since Nuhu Ribadu was booted out of office as Chairman of Nigeria’s foremost anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the organisation has never remained the same. Nonetheless, how the palace coup that led to Ribadu’s exit from the EFCC was masterminded and successfully executed by some Abuja based fifth columnists is now history. The new development is that the present EFCC has been snoring while Nigerian public officials loot our commonwealth to the detriment of the common people. The present Ibarahim Lamorde led EFCC is apparently in cahoots with the enemies of the Nigerian people. I say this because if EFCC has not conspired against Nigerians, some of our previous governors, who recently handed over power, ought to have been quizzed by now.
Take for instance, the immediate past governor Aliyu Babangida of Niger State, who prided himself as a Chief Servant of his state has turned out not to actually be what he claimed; he was a Servant of questionable character. The N2.9bn loan he took from Zenith Bank on May 28, a day before his handover date needs to be probed. The Bank officials who granted Aliyu such as loan also ought to be quizzed. EFCC should invite Aliyu to give account of the billions that passed through him while in office.
Ex-governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State cannot boast of one people-oriented project he implemented to completion in government, yet he won over 50 awards within and outside the shores of Nigeria for jobs not done.
The ongoing rainfall has exposed the cosmetic construction of roads, referred to as positive achievements, by Babatunde Raji Fashola in Lagos. Today, flood has almost taken over the streets of Lekki Phase 1, the abode of the very rich in the Nigeria’s purported centre of excellence.
Today, many people in Egbeda and Idimu in Alimosho, the biggest local government in Lagos State have been swept off by flood. My recent research tour of Lagos State proves that Fashola as developer of modern Lagos was quite overrated. For him, the media appears to have conspired with other politicians to sell the dummy of an achiever to the public. What I saw during my tour were eyesores. If one encounters the inner city streets of Ajeromi, Oshodi/Isolo, Alimosho, Egbeda, Idimu, Ejigbo, Somolu, Bariga, Gbadada etc, one would consider the aforementioned areas as having been erased from the map of a Lagos in need of rehabilitation.
I agree that Fashola gave city highways and the highbrow areas of Lagos a facelift, but with what I saw in other parts of the State, under-development still reigns uninhibited in most parts of Lagos. Thus, I urge the EFCC to invite the overrated former governor of Lagos State for questioning. He needs to explain why he inherited about N100billion in debts but left the state with over N500billion debts without commensurate projects on ground. What happened to all our money?
The EFCC should help the good people of Benue State invite former governor Gabriel Suswan to give account of how he spent the numerous billions of naira in allocation received from the federation account for eight years. Suswan locked primary schools in Benue State for more than ten months due to unpaid teachers salaries.
The disgraced former Governor Ramalan Yero of Kaduna should by now be offering explanations for the state’s allocations and revenue, as not a single project was implemented, apart from the completion of the government house that he inherited from the late former governor Yakowa.
Without sounding immodest, I wish to urge the EFCC to properly investigate former governor Amaechi of Rivers State, who reportedly not only sold all government investments in the state but still left gargantuan debts for the newer administration, which he had boasted would starve for funds. The irony of Amaechi’s tenure is that the former governor was actually considered as one of the best performing governors in the country until his derailment started in 2013 due to high-tension politics with the then federal government. I wish to emphasise that Amaechi did not derail because he left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC), but that the Ikwere born politician derailed because he misplaced his priorities and lost focus and direction.
Today, I can say without fear of contradiction that no traffic light works in the entire city of Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital. Amaechi left government with three months areas of workers’ salaries yet to be paid. He was a fine administrator who lost direction due to inordinate ambition. Within three year, Amaechi collected N234billion from the Excess Crude Oil account (excluding monthly allocations and Internally Generated Revenue of the state), still, majority of the trunk C roads in the state capital have been taken over by flood.
The list goes on. It appears almost endless. I call on the EFCC to wake up to its responsibilities. The immunity conferred on the erstwhile governors is gone, and it is time for them to account for their deeds whilst in office. The EFCC team should know that history and posterity will judge them if they don’t do what is expected of them now. Ribadu is still being praised today because of his meritorious service to the nation of Nigeria whilst in EFCC. Ibrahim Lamorde, the time to change Nigeria is now.
Maxwell Adeyemi Adeleye writes from Lagos.
