*EFCC alleges plot to disrupt arraignment

*More trouble for Akala, Daniel
By JIDE AJANI

As the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is set to arraign Senator Danjuma Goje, former governor of Gombe State, tomorrow, the prosecution is creating tension as the anti-graft agency claimed to have  unearthed a plot to disrupt the trial at a time three associates of Goje have been arrested, Sunday Vanguard can reveal.

And in its drive to ensure that the on-going trial of some former state governors is not seen as a road show, the Commission also plans to attach the properties of the state governors even as some of them have been granted bail.

The former governors are Chief Christopher Alao-Akala (Oyo) and Chief Gbenga Daniel (Ogun) both of whom were arraigned on graft charges at the High Courts in Ibadan and Abeokuta  respectively last week.

Sunday Vanguard was reliably informed that some politicians have perfected plans to ensure that the trial of the former governor of Gombe suffers a massive dose of chaos. But efforts were said to be in the pipeline to checkmate them.

Sources at the EFCC told Sunday Vanguard: “Once the agency got wind of the plan to create chaos at the venue of the trial, the EFCC immediately informed other security agencies to assist in ensuring that there is water-tight security at the venue as well as in Gombe, the state capital. We got information that some people are planning to disrupt the arraignment.

“We are in talks with other agencies and we have been assured of full support”.

Meanwhile, the EFCC has arrested three associates of  Goje. The suspects were, at the weekend, reportedly cooling off in the agency’s detention centre in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.

The three associates would likely be arraigned along with the embattled former governor.
They are Alhaji Aliyu El-Nasaty, S M Dokoro-Gombe and Sambo Mohammed Tumu.

Sunday Vanguard also learnt that the three associates have been served with the charges for which they are being held.

They allegedly received the charges on Friday.

In a related development, the EFCC has  launched plans to ensure that some of the former governors already on trial but who have been granted bail would have their properties attached.

This latest move by the anti-graft agency, Sunday Vanguard was informed, is with “a view to ensuring that they take us serious in this war against corruption.

“We want to let Nigerians know that  we are serious and we are determined much more to ensure that no stone is left unturned so as to send the right signal that our onslaught on corruption is for real”, an EFCC top official said at the weekend.

Last week at the hearing of the cases against Alao-Akala, and Daniel, both men were granted bail to the tune of N500million each.

EFCC’s decision to attach the properties of  the former governors  is “with a view to stiffening the consequences of corrupt enrichment and to let people know that being on bail does not mean they can roam free or run away.  And this time around, there is nothing like plea bargain. It is not even in our contemplation”.