By Emman OVUAKPORIE, Aliyu DANGIDA & Uduma KALU
THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said that the total amount allegedly looted by government officials in the four states of Jigawa, Rivers, Imo and Kwara States where it made some arrests is N50b.

Meanwhile, the affected state governments have reacted to the EFCC invasion of their states, alleging political witch hunt. However, the exercise is not a witch-hunt but to ensure that corrupt leaders are not voted in come 2011.

Arrest of corrupt officials will therefore be a continued exercise, the body said.
Making the disclosure to Saturday Vanguard this week, the anti graft body’s spokesperson, Mr. Femi Babafemi, said the new drive of the EFCC is anchored on states where local government funds have not properly been accounted for.

The body will “ensure that political parties do not field candidates that are presently undergoing prosecution on graft charges who might have delayed their trials as the anti-graft body will mobilize all stakeholders to thwart such efforts.

It will therefore invite “all law enforcement agencies, the Code of Conduct Bureau, ICPC, the Civil Society, the political parties, the citizens and other stakeholders to ensure that only credible contestants are fielded by the political parties.

Those politicians that have pending cases must be properly screened and if fielded, the Civil Society has a responsibility to mobilize people to reject them at the polls, the people have a right to elect leaders who had lived above board.”

“We are not going to draw a list and declare them guilty as we are no law courts. If that was done in the past, we won’t do that but we will work with all the relevant stakeholders to ensure the right leaders are elected.”

On the recent clampdown on some states over Local Government funds, Babafemi said, “the commission is saddled with the task to prevent an economic crime from being committed and it is not our responsibility to determine what happens in courts.

That is where people are mixing our jobs with that of the judiciary. Nobody is witch hunting anybody over the issue of Local Government funds these were matters that we have been pursuing before President Goodluck Jonathan became president of the country so there is nothing new here because we started these matters since 2008.”

The states the anti graft body swooped on were Jigawa, Rivers, Imo and Kwara States. Some government officials in these states were alleged to have diverted N50billion Local Government funds.

The alleged fraud bordered on fraudulent award of contracts, misappropriation of government finances and siphoning of monies into private pockets.

Meanwhile, Jigawa state commissioners now camouflage to shield their identity for fear of being arrested by the security operatives of the commission. Saturday Vanguard has exclusively gathered that some commissioners were seeing with other vehicles and dropped their official vehicles to shield their identity while they drivers were kept a side, a situation that could be difficult for people to recognize them talk less of strangers.

According to our source, most of these investigations started two years ago, and it is “ difficult to get detailed information concerning matters like this. Our operatives had to operated within and outside the states involved to get concrete and comprehensive information that could hold water in our law courts.

“For example, Rivers and Jigawa investigations started in November 2008 and our men had kept tabs on those states since then. That of Imo state is not new.

We have been on it also for sometime now. The cry of witch hunting does not arise at all. People are just been unnecessarily petty,” it said.

A breakdown of the alleged involvement of the 4 states is as follows: In Jigawa N15billion was alleged to be missing with 5 key government officials nabbed.

In Kwara, it is N12billion, with two Local Government Chairmen arrested. In Rivers, N18billion missing, with three Local Government Treasurers and five key government house officials declared wanted.