An Elder Statesman, Dr Chike Obidigbo, has frowned at the trial of former Anambra State governor, Chief Willie Obiano, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stressing that the trial smacks of political persecution rather than a fight against corruption.
He regretted that the EFCC appears to be willing tools in the hands of desperate politicians and malicious businessmen who have axes to grind with their opponents.
“For the EFCC to keep losing many court cases shows that all is not well with the commission’s standard operating mechanism,” he maintained.
Recall that the immediate past Anambra State governor is standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on charges framed against him by the EFCC, for allegedly stealing the state’s security votes amounting to N4bn while in office as governor from March 2014 through March 2022.
But, in a statement issued on Thursday, Obidigbo argued that the idea of trying state governors after their tenure ends runs counter to the spirit and letters of the Nigerian constitution.
He said that there is no way the same constitution that grants immunity to state chief executives would empower an external organ to subject them to post-service inquisition, insisting that the EFCC should stop overstepping its constitutional bounds by arrogating itself as a superior organ to the state House of Assembly.
His words: “A lot of things are going topsy-turvy in this country. The harassment of state governors after their tour of duty is in total violation of the constitutional provisions. In the presidential democracy which we pretend to practice, the legislature is the main organ of oversight on the activities of the executive.
“In recent times, the EFCC has transformed itself into attack dogs, going after former governors in search of what is not missing. Governors are elected to serve the people, and as such, the people are better placed to police the governors through their representatives in the legislature.
“Security votes have been rendered opaque by the constitution, which categorised them as funds in a blind budget. So, if the constitution empowers state governors to implement the blind budget how best they deem fit, the EFCC should have no business searching for departed sums.”
The elder statesman remarked that Obiano’s predicament is quite touchy not only on account of the amount of money being investigated but also because the former governor is being punished by those who believe that the Anambra North senatorial district, where he hails from, has nobody to come to his aid.
While reminding the EFCC and its sponsors not to forget that there is God, Obidigbo noted: “There is no way a former governor should be dragged up and down in the name of fighting corruption without the input of his home state. It is based on this reality of political witch-hunt that I have decided to urge the EFCC to leave Willie Obiano alone immediately.
“Why should Nigerian authorities derive pleasure in punishing their citizens, particularly Ndigbo? Obiano should be allowed to enjoy his deserved rest and take care of his health. He served his people to the best of his ability. As an elder, I am very concerned that the first governor to emerge from my zone should be subjected to this demeaning treatment.
“After all, how does N4bn compare to the hundreds of billions stolen by other governors? If after eight years as a state governor, all he could not account for by EFCC’s reckoning is a mere N4bn in today’s Nigeria, Obiano should be congratulated as a saint, rather than persecuted. He should therefore be left alone to enjoy his liberty after a very stressful eight-year tenure.”
The elder statesman, however, wondered why former Presidents that enjoy the same constitutional immunity as state governors are not subjected to the ordeal of after-service inquisition, even as he called on the National Assembly to ensure that the EFCC does not become an emerging danger to Nigeria’s democracy.
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