The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has revealed that 18 serving governors across the country are currently under investigation for various corruption-related offences.
Olukoyede made the disclosure on Friday during a sensitisation programme on the abuse and mutilation of the naira held in Lagos.
According to the EFCC chairman, the anti-graft agency is not waiting for the end of the governors’ tenures before initiating investigations, but action will be intensified once they leave office.
“As I’m talking to you, I’m investigating about 18 governors who are still serving. When they leave office, we will go to the next level,” Olukoyede stated.
He recounted a previous case involving a former governor who fled to the United Kingdom a day after handing over power to avoid arrest. While in London, the former governor was arrested after spraying pound sterling notes at his birthday party in a hotel.
“The hotel manager, who had never seen such a thing before, called 911, thinking he was mad. When the Metropolitan Police arrived, they almost put him in an ambulance,” Olukoyede said.
He added that it took the intervention of the former governor’s associates, including two Nigerian governors who attended the party, to prevent the situation from escalating.
The EFCC chairman used the incident to stress the agency’s commitment to tracking illicit financial behaviour, both locally and abroad.
