Posted by Angola Press on
At least 15 of Nigeria`s 36 state governors may be in trouble over alleged corruption, going by the action of the country`s anti-graft agency which has sent damning evidence against them to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) for investigation.
Lagos, Nigeria, 10/10 - At least 15 of Nigeria`s 36 state governors may be in trouble over alleged corruption, going by the action of the country`s anti-graft agency which has sent damning evidence against them to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) for investigation.
Media reports Sunday quoted Mustapha Akanbi, outgoing chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), as saying 37 files on the commission`s investigation of the governors had been sent to the CJN.
"Section 52 of the ICPC Act only talked that the Chief Justice of the Federation shall, if satisfied that sufficient cause has been shown upon an accusation on notice supported by an affidavit setting out the fact on which the allegation is based, authorise an independent counsel who shall be a legal practitioner of not less than 15 years standing, to investigate the allegations and make a report of his findings to the National Assembly," he said.
He said some of the governors had more than one case file, and listed among them Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha of Southern Bayelsa State, who is currently being remanded in a London jail after he was arraigned on money laundering charges in the English capital.
"Alamieyeseigha was the first case," said Akanbi, a retired Justice of the Appeal Court.
"His name is there. It was because of that, he started all sorts of action to stop the process going on," he said.
Under the Nigerian Constitution, a category of political officer holders, including governors and their deputies, are immune from prosecution while in office.
However, amid indications that such immunity does not extend beyond Nigeria`s shores, the federal government may have decided to collaborate with other countries` law enforcement agencies to bring such corrupt officials to book.