The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has revealed that the anti-graft agency is currently investigating 18 sitting governors across Nigeria.
Olukoyede made the disclosure on Friday in Lagos during a sensitisation programme aimed at addressing the abuse and mutilation of the naira.
According to him, although the EFCC is actively investigating the governors, further action will be taken once they leave office and lose immunity.
He stressed that the EFCC does not always wait until public officials conclude their tenure before probing them, citing a case involving a former governor who fled the country shortly after leaving office to avoid arrest.
He said, “I will give you an experience we had in EFCC. There was a time in this country when we were investigating a governor. We don’t wait until they finish their tenures before we investigate.
“As I’m talking to you, I’m investigating about 18 governors who are still serving. When they leave office, we will go to the next level.
“This governor was investigated while he was in office. Immediately, he finished his tenure, the following day, he took off to England to avoid the arrest of EFCC.
“Coincidentally, that week happens to be his birthday. He organised a birthday party in the hotel where he was staying.
While the party was going on, he started spraying pounds — 50 bills and 10 bills. So the manager of the hotel was called. He came down and saw the former governor spraying pounds. He had never seen such a thing in his life so he had to call 911.
“When the Metropolitan Police came, he asked that they should help arrest the former governor. The ex-governor was arrested and they wanted to put him in an ambulance.
“The people — his friends, colleagues, and two governors — who went to London to celebrate with him had to intervene. They said the ex-governor was not a mad man because the hotel manager thought he was mad.”
