FG proposes law to prosecute sitting govs

Lanre Adewole and Clement Idoko, Abuja - 29.02.2008

THE Federal Government on Thursday said it had sent a bill to the National Assembly seeking constitutional powers to commence prosecution of corrupt governors while still in office.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mike Aondoakaa (SAN), who made this known in Abuja, however, said the move would not include request for total removal of the immunity clause.

President Umaru Yar’Adua has been a consistent advocate of the removal of the immunity clause from the 1999 Constitution, which currently precludes the president, vice-president, governors and their deputies from prosecution while in office.

Aondoakaa, who spoke at the opening of a two-day workshop on the validation of National Drug Control Master Plan (NDCNP) put together by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said the move was to enable the government nip corruption at the bud.

He explained that the bill when passed into law, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and other anti-corruption bodies would be adequately empowered to begin prosecution of the governors while in office instead of waiting till the end of their four or eight years tenure.

He said as soon as evidence of corruption was established by any of the anti-corruption agencies against a sitting governor, immediate arrest of the commissioners and other public officials linked to the corrupt allegation would be made and charged to court while the full prosecution of the principal would be done immediately after the tenure.