According to a report, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has alleged that no fewer than 58 former governors have looted, embezzled, laundered or misappropriated a staggering sum of N2.187 trillion in the last 25 years. This figure excludes seized properties across the globe and others under probe, which run into billions of Naira.
Staggering Figures of Alleged Looting
The N2.2 trillion allegedly looted by these former governors is equivalent to:
- The entire 2024 budget of Lagos State (N2.25 trillion)
- The combined 2024 budgets of the South-East states (N2.29 trillion)
- The 2024 budgets of the North-Central states (N1.89 trillion) and the North-East states (N1.60 trillion).
Lack of Convictions
Despite these allegations, the EFCC has only secured convictions of four former governors in the last 21 years – Chief Lucky Igbinedion (Edo), late DSP Alamieyeseigha (Bayelsa), Jolly Nyame (Taraba), and Joshua Dariye (Plateau). Remarkably, no former governor was among the 6,981 convictions the EFCC secured between 2020 and 2022.
Revolving Door of Governors
The report further reveals that Nigeria has had a total of 170 governors across its 36 states in the last 25 years, with some states like Ekiti producing as many as eight governors. Many of these former governors are now facing EFCC investigations and prosecutions for various fraud-related allegations.
Some of the former governors under the EFCC’s radar include Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu), Sullivan Chime (Enugu), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Ayo Fayose (Ekiti), Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa), Danjuma Goje (Gombe), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Joshua Dariye (Plateau), and Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa), among others.
The EFCC has insisted on revisiting some of these cases and ensuring that those indicted are brought to book, despite claims by some former governors that the allegations against them are politically motivated.