• Seek probe by EFCC
ALLEGATIONS of money laundering and misappropriation of public funds have been leveled against the registered trustees of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and the 36 state governors in the country.
Two Niger Delta activists, Mr. Idaye Opi and Annkio Briggs, who filed a suit at an Abuja High Court seeking a declaration that the NGF be disbanded, have petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate and prosecute state governors found to be involved in laundering and misappropriation of public funds.
In the petition made available to The Guardian in Port Harcourt Sunday, the activists through their counsel, Mrs. Judith Dandison, alleged that the governors and their Board of Trustees, in operating the NGF, are utilising public funds without the backing of the Nigerian Constitution or any other law for that matter.
They claimed that by Article 13.1 of the Constitution of the NGF, all the 36 states are financial members of the organisation.
According to them, the Article 13 clearly stipulates that the NGF will rely on the following as sources of its finance, contribution from member states.
“There is no provision under the Nigerian Constitution or under any other law whatsoever which made any or all of the 36 states of Nigeria members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum. Even Article 5 of the NGF Constitution, on the membership of the body, clearly provides that only democratically elected governors’ in Nigeria are members of the forum. Curiously, Article 13.1 under the same NGF Constitution makes the 36 states’ members for purposes of monetary contribution,” the petitioners said.
Citing Section 40 of the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004, the duo emphasised that the NGF is a purely private association. Thus, it certainly smacks of criminality for the governors and/or their Board of Trustees to extort monies from the coffers of the 36 states of Nigeria without any constitutional or legislative backing.
Dandison stressed that her clients are bonafide citizens of Nigeria and are of the persuasion that state funds should not be dissipated by any person or groups of persons unlawfully. “On behalf of our clients, we respectfully invite your office to investigate and prosecute, as the case may be, these financial crimes of money laundering and misappropriation of public funds,” they added.
It would be recalled that last year, both Opi and Briggs, who are from Rivers State, had filed a suit in Abuja, seeking the court to determine whether pursuant to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and the oath of office contained in the 7th Schedule to the constitution, if a governor of a state together with other governors in Nigeria, can actively participate in the formation and executive functions, in any capacity whatsoever, of any private association outside the contemplation of the constitution.
The plaintiffs are praying the court to declare that a governor is the chief executive of his state, hence, cannot, either on his free accord or otherwise, actively participate in the formation and executive functions in any capacity whatsoever of any private association outside the contemplation of the 1999 Constitution as amended or any other law for the time being in force in Nigeria.
They also are praying the court to determine whether pursuant to the aforementioned 7th Schedule to the constitution, the interferences of elected governors in Nigeria as a pressure group through the NGF in the decision and policy making of the Federal Government is constitutional.
Source: Guardian
