By Pascal Ibe
Claim
WhatsApp users shared a write up that ex EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu listed president Tinubu and four other ex governors as most corrupt in 2006.
Verdict
This is Misleading. Although, Nuhu Ribadu listed Orji Kalu’s administration in Abia as State with most corruption cases at that time, there’s no where he tagged president Tinubu, Orji Kalu and three other ex governors as most corrupt in 2006.
Full Text
WhatsApp users last Saturday, shared a write up which claimed that a former EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu listed President Bola Tinubu and three other ex governors as most corrupt in 2006.
The claim stated that in 2006, the EFCC Chairman Nuhu Ribadu, came before the Nigerian Senate and listed 5 most corrupt governors. They include:
1. Orji Kalu, Abia State
2. Ahmed Bola Tinubu, Lagos State
3. Ahmed Sani yerima, Zamfara State
4. George Akume, Benue State
5. Chimaroke Nnamani, Enugu State
“Today, in 2024, 18 years after.
“Orji Kalu = Senator
Bola Ahmed Tinubu = President
Ahmed Sani Yerima = Senator
George Akume = Senator now Appointed by Tinubu as SGF.
Chimaroke = Senator
“The then EFCC Chairman Nuhu Ribadu who made the list but failed to prosecute them, is now appointed by Tinubu to be National Security Adviser.
“The Senate is currently headed by another EFCC regular, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Since Saturday, crimefacts.news have cited this claim in more than four WhatsApp groups.
Verification
First, crimefacts.news traced this claim and discovered that it was first posted by an X user, @RealOlaudah on February 29, 2024.
The claim first by @RealOlaudah three months ago, attracted over 58k views and over 866 likes.
Many social media users have continued to circulate this particular claim on X, Facebook and blogs.
How True?
According to an article published on PMNEWS in 2012, At a 2006 plenary session of the Senate, Nuhu Ribadu, then Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, appeared to answer questions on why the agency had failed to submit the annual report of its activities to the Senate as stipulated by the act establishing it.
Ribadu told the senators that the EFCC had investigated many sitting governors and dug up dirt on them, but the Commission could not move against them because of constitutional immunity. The senators pressured Ribadu to reveal the names of the governors being investigated as well as their alleged offences. “Abia is number one, not because it is number one alphabetically, but because we have one of the biggest established cases of stealing, money laundering, diversion of funds against Governor (Orji) Kalu,” said Ribadu, who explained that 31 governors were being investigated for various forms of corrupt practices
According to Voice Of America , on September 27,2006, EFCC Chairman Nuhu Ribadu told a tense session of the Nigerian Senate that public funds, running into hundreds of millions of dollars, have been stolen by state officials in the past seven years. He cited the case of the governor of Abia State, Orji Kalu, who – acting through friends and family – is said to have stolen about $200 million.
“We have established a prima facie case of conspiracy, stealing, corruption and abuse of office, forgery and money laundering against the governor, Orji Kalu,” he said. “Governor Kalu used the following companies and enterprises belonging to himself, his mother, daughter, wife, brother in looting the Abia state treasury and building his business empire. We noted that the governor used his position in channeling states and local government funds in excess of $25 billion Naira [about $200 million].”
Ribadu denies listing Tinubu as ‘corrupt governor’
In 2011, as presidential candidate of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Ribadu said he never listed former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, as corrupt when he was EFCC boss.
According toVanguard , Ribadu, who was answering questions at the NN24 Presidential Debate held in Abuja, said Tinubu had made tremendous contributions to the development of Lagos State as well as the growth of democracy
A report by TheCable revealed that EFCC since it’s establishment in 2003, has prosecuted 33 former governors and convicted six of them.
On October 20 2006, Ribadu told BBC that more than $380bn has either been stolen or wasted by Nigerian governments since independence in 1960
Nuhu Ribadu told the BBC that Nigeria has “nothing much” to show for the missing money.
He said the worst period for corruption was the 1980s and ’90s, but currently two-thirds of governors are being investigated by Mr Ribadu’s agency.
Conclusion
The claim that ex EFCC chairman Nuhu Ribadu listed Tinubu and four other ex governors as most corrupt is Misleading.
Beefing Senate in 2006, Ribadu told the senators that the EFCC had investigated many sitting governors and dug up dirt on them, but the Commission could not move against them because of constitutional immunity.
