Share!
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has revealed that the agency is currently investigating 18 sitting governors across Nigeria over allegations of corruption and financial misconduct.
Speaking in Lagos on Friday during a sensitisation programme against the abuse and mutilation of the naira, Olukoyede declared that the anti-graft agency has adopted a more proactive strategy in tackling corruption among public officeholders and would no longer wait until governors complete their terms before taking action.
“As I’m talking to you, I’m investigating about 18 governors who are still serving. When they leave office, we will go to the next level,” the EFCC boss said.
He clarified that immunity granted to governors by the constitution limits immediate prosecution but stressed that the EFCC conducts background investigations while they are in office to prepare solid cases against them.
Recounting a specific case, Olukoyede narrated how a former Nigerian governor, already under EFCC watch, fled to the United Kingdom shortly after completing his tenure in an attempt to evade arrest. According to him, the former governor, during his birthday celebration at a hotel in the UK, began spraying £50 and £10 notes in an unusual manner that alarmed the hotel staff.
“The hotel manager had never seen anything like it. He thought the man was mentally unstable and called 911,” Olukoyede said.
He added that the Metropolitan Police almost placed the ex-governor in an ambulance before two serving Nigerian governors who were present at the party intervened and clarified his identity.
Olukoyede reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to hold all public officials accountable, regardless of their office or influence. While he declined to mention names, he assured that the investigations would lead to full-scale prosecution as soon as the affected governors leave office.
“We are changing the narrative. The era of sacred cows is over,” he declared.
