…says ‘poor states’ get N250m, ‘rich states’ N2.5bn monthly as vote

 

Counsel of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), has said that the majority of corruption cases among former and current governors stem from the mismanagement of security votes in their states.

Speaking on Thursday in Lagos at the public presentation of 5th edition of ‘Compendium of 100 High Profile Corruption Cases in Nigeria’ organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Jacobs, who reviewed the catalogue, said the governors use the proceeds of crime to purchase property across the world.

While hailing the HEDA for being at the forefront of the fight against corruption, he said the anti-graft organization has been severally abandoned, persecuted and criminalized by those who feel exposed and embarrassed by what they are doing.

He said: “I look at the book and I look at the 100 high profiled cases and I put them in a compartment. I see a group of cases derived from security votes. A large number of these high-profile cases are products of security votes cases.

“Our leaders believe that security votes are unaccountable. They don’t account for it; they will not tell you how they spent it. They will not tell you who benefited and all that.

“In fact, cases have revealed and we have successfully prosecuted like two governors on this security votes.”

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria who faulted the misconception that the utilization of security votes can’t be accounted for, drew a parallel between the mismanagement of security votes and the heightened insecurity in the country.

“No wonder we have insecurity challenges because we believe that if money voted for security are utilized for security, we will not be in the state where we are today. I have handled and filed charges of security votes involving about 20 states in Nigeria and I should be able to give you the relevant information.

“The poorest states in this country, those with little allocation, what they allocate for security every month is N250 million, while for the so-called rich states, their security votes allocation is between N1.5 billion and N2.5 billion every month.

“Note that these security votes are not paid through cheques, the banks must go and source for cash every month for the amount. And when the cashier of the Government House collects the cash from the bank, he takes it to the governor and the governor wont sign anything. He will regard the money as his own and this is the trend in all the states of the federation.

“During elections, the security votes will balloon. In the last three months to the election, some states collect N5 billion, others N3 billion. This cash is being given to the governors not for security reasons but for election.”

The EFCC counsel queried: “Why is it that the governors, if they are sincere with the fight against corruption is not employing this e-payment method for all transactions done by the government?

“If we are serious with our fight against corruption, the cash transaction in government must stop. There is no governor or former governor in this country who has not mismanaged security votes.

“In fact, some share it in percentage with their godfathers every month. That is how we are running our government. Why are ministries still transacting government business in cash transactions?

“Our corruption is dangerous in Nigeria because we don’t invest the proceeds of graft into productive or investment. But they use it to buy houses in UK, US and others,” he said.

Earlier in his opening address, the chairman of HEDA, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju, said the motivation for the compendium was to arrest the cascading morality in the society where those accused of corruption and financial crimes are not only revered but elevated because of the absence of proper documentation.

Prof. Sadiq Isah Radda, chairman of the event, said corruption is a problem that we must solve ourselves by helping the government in the fight against corruption.

Others who lend their voices at the presentation of the compendium include Mr. Olumide Fusika (SAN), Dr. Muiz Banire (SAN), Mr. Lawal Pedro (SAN), Dr. Ngozi Iwere, Mr. Nurudeen Ogbara, and Comrade Achike Chude among others