Nigeria’s anti-corruption police arrested two former state governors on Wednesday, a bombshell in a country where politicians have looted public funds with impunity for decades.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said Orji Kalu and Saminu Turaki were answering questions on allegations of conspiracy to steal, abuse of office, diversion of public funds and money laundering.
“The arrest of the former governors of Abia and Jigawa states became imperative following their pointed refusal to honour several invitations of the EFCC, over a period of nearly two months,” the commission said in a statement.
Kalu, who stepped down as governor of southeastern Abia on May 29 and was a presidential candidate in April elections, said he had “obliged an invitation” and had not been arrested.
He said the EFCC had acted unlawfully because there was a court order restraining it from harassing or arresting him.
Turaki, whose term as governor of northern Jigawa ended on May 29 but who is a sitting senator, could not be reached.
Nigeria is ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world by independent watchdog Transparency International.
The 36 state governors are powerful figures, with discretionary powers over millions of dollars of public funds and immunity from prosecution while in office.
The last crop of governors stepped down on May 29 and the following week, the EFCC summoned 15 of them to answer questions about allegations of corruption.
Most of them presented themselves and were questioned for a few hours and then let go. Until Wednesday’s arrests, the EFCC had not announced any further moves against any ex-governor.
LITMUS TEST
For decades, ex-governors were considered untouchable, so the fact that two have been arrested is big news in Nigeria.
The fate of the former governors is seen as a litmus test of how seriously new President Umaru Yar’Adua will tackle graft.
Himself a former state governor, Yar’Adua has pledged to crack down on corruption, but his political base is weak and he risks alienating crucial allies if he allows the EFCC to go after whoever it likes.
The elections that brought Yar’Adua to power were condemned as “not credible” by local and international observers, and he is trying offset his perceived lack of legitimacy by forming a government of national unity.
Political insiders say some of the people whom the EFCC would love to catch are central to the negotiations and therefore Yar’Adua cannot give the commission a free rein.
Such comments infuriate anti-corruption campaigners, who considered the EFCC to be politically biased under the previous administration and were hoping for better things under Yar’Adua.
The EFCC was created in 2003 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and many Nigerians saw it as his tool because it went after his opponents while leaving his allies undisturbed.
Yar’Adua, who was plucked from obscurity by Obasanjo, is under pressure to prove he is not the ex-president’s puppet. Campaigners say he could achieve that by letting the EFCC go after whoever it wants — even Obasanjo’s friends.