Ken Okolugbo, a former commissioner of Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC), has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe corruption allegations levelled against former governors.
In an interview with ChannelsTV on Friday night, Okolugbo noted that public officials and governors charged with corruption should be made to face the wrath of the law.
He said the report of the probe of the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry should be made public for Nigerians.
Okolugbo said the anti-corruption fight “is no longer business as usual” citing the prosecution of ex-governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele, ex-Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika, ex-Kogi State governor Yahaya Bello, ex-Kwara gov Abdulfatah Ahmed, ex-Anambra State governor Willie Obiano and others by the anti-graft agency under Ola Olukoyede.
Okolugbo also said beyond the prosecution of former government officials, the EFCC has been seen clamping down on Nigerians involved in currency speculation and racketeering.
Okolugbo said the corruption fight under the Tinubu administration has been more intense that the eight-year anti-graft campaign of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The public affairs analyst faulted the Buhari government for granting pardon to former governors Jolly Nyame and Joshua Dariye.
“I think that was one of the very lows of the Buhari government because they should have allowed Jolly Nyame and Joshua Dariye to serve out their terms,” Okolugbo said.
“In my state for example, (James) Ibori served out his term in the UK, he was not pardoned. I don’t think it is fair on Ibori what is happening to his colleagues most of them that had corruption cases.
“Why do I say this? Those cases, a lot of them were swept under the carpet and I think the new (EFCC) chairman would (revisit the cases), just like he has done with Kwara. Not all governors are corrupt but those ones that have facts and cases to answer and nothing was done about them, people look at it and they get emboldened. You must look at those cases fair and square.”
He, however, urged the EFCC chairman to sanitise the anti-graft agency of bad eggs in its fold.
He praised the corruption fight by the administration of President Bola Tinubu in the last one year, saying that the President has been vigorous in his war against corruption as declared when he assumed office.
