Elder statesman and former Information minister Chief Edwin Clark, urged the chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Olanipekun Olukoyede, not to waver in his resolve to reopen pending corruption cases against former governors.
Clark stated this in an open letter addressed to the EFCC chairman, titled: Re: The Reviving of All Abandoned High Profile Corrupt Cases Against Politicians By The Economic And Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The elder statesman said, “Some of the former governors who were charged to court in the past ten years and whose cases have not been concluded by the court and which you have decided to revive include; Ayo Fayose, Rasheed Ladoja, Joshua Dariye; was sentenced and pardoned, Chimaroke Nnamani, Orji Uzor Kalu, Jolly Nyame; was sentenced and pardoned, Abdullahi Adamu, Lucky Igbinedion; enter a plea bargain, Sullivan Chime, Theodore Orji, Danjuma Goje, Aliyu Wamako, Timipre Sylva and Sule Lamido.
“Most of them have found themselves in and out of the Senate and other political positions and EFCC have abandoned most of those cases without trial. They never went back to court to list most of these cases for trial. What type of society do we belong to in this country?”
Clark, who noted that corruption will continue as long as sacred cows continue to exist in Nigeria, said EFCC’s parade of over 2000 convicted cases, most of whom are internet fraudsters and petty thieves, would not yield much.
“I deeply appreciate your courage and will power in reviving these high profile corrupt cases involving former Governors, some of whom are in the Senate shamelessly parading themselves as innocent citizens while some of them are today serving as Ministers in the present Administration.”
He added, “You revealed the names of these unpatriotic culprits who embezzled the sum of about ₦772 Billion, enough to rejuvenate our ailing economy. I join other Nigerians in supporting you to carry out with rapidity to complete the investigations of these cases and to expedite the trial of all those charged to court since 2007; who are not only in the Senate and Government dining and wining with Mr President but are also living lavishly at the expense of volatile and vulnerable Nigerians.
“I also wish to advise you that all former Governors who served the country and some of who looted their state treasury as it is alleged in Yahaya Bello’s case should be investigated by your commission with rapidity to enable Mr President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to carry out his anti-corruption crusade.”
In the letter, Clark also took a swipe at the former President Muhammadu Buhari, for not fulfilling his campaign against corruption while he was in office.
“We discovered with dismay that when president Muhamadu Buhari took over office, he could not eradicate corruption but allowed corruption to flourish both in the Presidency including some members of his family and the whole setup in the country.”
Decrying the depth of corruption in the country, Clark noted that “the level of corruption in the public service and even in private business has reached such an alarming scale.”
He added, “While the Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and Directors in a Ministry carry out corruption and abuse of office at a large scale at higher level, the lower ranks in the Ministry even including the clerks and messengers are also involved in minor ways of corruption by hiding files and documents and asking for money before releasing them. A new trend has now increased the temple of corruption.”
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