Posted by By LUCKY NWANKWERE, Abuja on
President Olusegun Obasanjo has said there is no provision under the present constitution requiring state governors to obtain permission from the presidency or the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), before embarking on foreign trips.
President Olusegun Obasanjo has said there is no provision under the present constitution requiring state governors to obtain permission from the presidency or the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), before embarking on foreign trips.
He described the reports in some national dailies Tuesday, alleging that state governors had been directed to seek the approval of the EFCC before traveling out of the country as not only false, but also erroneous and misleading.
Chairman of the EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu was quoted by reports as saying that governors now seek permission from him before embarking on foreign trips.
Presidential spokesperson, Mrs. Remi Oyo told the State House correspondents yesterday that there was no truth in such reports, stating that Ribadu had denied ever saying so.
"It is equally noteworthy that the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu, to whom the newspapers attributed the announcement of the alleged new requirement for governors to get the permission of the Presidency and the EFCC before leaving the country has denied that he never made such a statement.
"It is also not true as claimed in one report that "before the arrest of the former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, governors and top government officials were only getting approval to travel out of the country from the Presidency, through the office of the chief of staff to the President," she further pointed out.
Saying what is often given to the Presidency is information on governors' trips, she said some governors informed the presidency about their foreign travels merely out of courtesy, pointing out that a good number of them still embark on trips outside the country without doing so.
Oyo further explained that the information about governors' trips was for the Presidency to locate any governor if the need arose to brief such a governor or in the event of any emergency situation.