APC governors, others jittery as EFCC probes security votes

The Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) have hired lawyers to tackle the EFCC for nosing into howthey spent their state’s security votes, saying the anti-graft agency lacks powers to do it.

According to Jigawa Gov. Abubakar Badaru, lawyers have been hired and instructed to investigate the case.

Badaru disclosed this at the end of the monthly national economic council (NEC) meeting with Acting President Yemi Osinbajo at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Thursday.

The EFCC froze the state accounts of Benue and Akwa Ibom weeks ago, thereby generating debate on the legality of the action.

He said the issue was discussed by the governors in their meeting on Wednesday night.

NGF’s chairman and Zamfara Gov. Abdulaziz Yari also express worries about how the EFCC have been handling the fight against corruption.

Yari was sure that even President Muhammadu Buhari will not support the action.

“We believe strongly that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari will not sit down and supervise this illegality in the system,” he told newsmen.

“What we are saying now is that we are going to support the government in terms of what it is doing to fight corruption, but the due process must be respected in whatever action the agencies are going to take in the name of fighting corruption.”

Security votes are lump sums running into billions which state and federal executives collect annually out of budget, and the spending is unaccounted for.

Imo Gov. Rochas Okorocha once declared his security vote was N2 billion

Anambra former Gov. Peter Obi has been an arrow head of the campaign against security votes.