The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has denied releasing any list of alleged corrupt ex-governor who are under investigation by the agency.
Recall that over the week, a purported list of ex-governors under investigation by EFCC for alleged corruption was in circulation.
On Saturday, several reports emerged in the online media (not IVNTV NEWS) that 58 former governors were under the radar of the anti-graft agency. The ex-governors were accused of misappropriating a total of N2.187 trillion over 25 years.
According to reports, the 58 former governors – drawn from the six regions of the country – were being probed. While others have been investigated, and prosecuted.
But in a statement on Sunday, the EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale, described the reports as false and misleading.
According to him, “the so-called list is a disingenuous fabrication. Designed to achieve motives known only to the authors.”
“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, feels obliged to dissociate itself from a phantom report circulating in sections of the media. Claiming it has released a full list of ex- governors being investigated for alleged corruption,” the statement read.
“The report headlined: “EFCC Releases Full List of 58 Ex- Governors that Embezzled N2 .187 Trillion”, in one of the news outlets, is false and mischievous. The Commission neither issued the said list nor entertained discussions on investigation of ex-governors with any news medium.”
EFCC, therefore, urged the public to disregard the report, describing “it is false and misleading.”
The Commission also urged media practitioners to always crosscheck facts about matters under investigation with the Commission. This, it said, is to avoid misleading the public with false and inaccurate reports.
Recall that EFCC has been probing some former governors over allegations of corruption and misappropriation of public funds.
Among them is the former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello who is being arraigned on 19 counts. The charges border on alleged money laundering, breach of trust, and misappropriation of funds to the tune of N80.2 billion.
According to the EFCC, the embattled ex-Governor withdrew $720,000 from the Kogi State’s accounts to pay his child’s school fees in advance. That was just before he left office on January 27, 2024.
Briefing journalists at the Commission’s headquarters in the Jabi area of Abuja, on April 23, the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede alleged that Bello moved the money from the State’s coffer to a Bureau de Change operator. He was said to have used the money for his child’s school fee in advance.
The EFCC Chairman said, “A sitting Governor, because he knew he was leaving office, moved money directly from the Government to Bureau de Change. And used it to pay his child’s school fee in advance.
“Over $720,000 or thereabout, in anticipation that he was going to leave the Government House. In a poor State like Kogi? And you want me to close my eyes under the guise of ‘I’m being used’. Used by who? At this stage of my life? Used by who?
“I didn’t initiate the case; I inherited the case. I called for the case file and I said there are issues here,” Olukoyede stated.
source: Channels TV
