The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has reopened investigations into money laundering cases involving 13 former governors and several ex-ministers, with a total amount exceeding N853.8bn.
It has been disclosed that the sum under scrutiny in the prominent cases related to former governors and ministers is no less than N772.2bn. Additionally, the anti-graft agency is currently looking into the alleged misappropriation of N81.6bn in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
A separate $2.2bn has been reported missing due to money laundering, fund diversion, and misappropriation. The funds were allegedly diverted by figures including former National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki, the late media mogul Raymond Dokpesi, former Sokoto State governor Attahiru Bafarawa, and former Minister of State for Finance Bashir Yuguda, among others.
The EFCC contends that the $2.2bn, originally earmarked for arms procurement in support of the fight against terrorism, was instead laundered, diverted, and misappropriated. The arrests of Dokpesi, Bafarawa, Yuguda, and others followed their indictment by a presidential committee investigating arms procurement during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Individuals implicated in the ongoing investigations include former Ekiti State governors Kayode Fayemi and Ayo Fayose, former Zamfara State governor Bello Matawalle, former Enugu State governors Chimaroke Nnamani and Sullivan Chime, former Nasarawa State governor Abdullahi Adamu, former Kano State governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, former Rivers State governor Peter Odili, former Abia State governor Theodore Orji, former Gombe State governor Danjuma Goje, former Sokoto State governor Aliyu Wamako, former Bayelsa State governor Timipre Sylva, and former Jigawa State governor Sule Lamido.
Current Minister of Defence Bello Matawalle is under investigation for alleged N70bn money laundering, while former Minister of Solid Minerals Development Kayode Fayemi is being probed for an alleged N4bn fraud. Ex-governor Fayose faces investigation for an alleged N6.9bn fraud, Nnamani for an alleged N5.3bn fraud, Chime for an alleged N450m campaign fraud, Adamu for alleged N15bn fraud, Kwakwanso for alleged non-remittance of N10bn pension fund, Orji for alleged N551bn money laundering, and Odili for an alleged N100bn fraud.
Goje is being probed for an alleged N5bn fraud, Wammako for allegedly diverting N15bn, Sylva for an alleged N19.2bn money laundering, and Lamido for an alleged N1.35bn fraud.
The EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, is reportedly reviewing all high-profile cases, ensuring investigators handle the probes without prejudice based on social or political status. The EFCC has also initiated investigations into former ministers Olu Agunloye and Sadiya Umar-Farouk over an alleged $6bn fraud on the Mambilla Power Project and an alleged N37.1bn fraud, respectively. The suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, and the Coordinator of the suspended National Social Investment Programme Agency, Halima Shehu, are also under investigation for an alleged N81.6bn fraud in the ministry.