By Jimmy
Just recently, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, was remanded to Kuje Correctional Center over alleged involvement in procurement fraud.
The case has drawn significant attention due to its implications for the former CBN governor. Emefiele’s legal team continues to advocate for his release, while the Federal Government remains steadfast in its opposition to granting bail.
Political corruption is, unfortunately, a persistent phenomenon in Nigeria. In 2012, Nigeria was estimated to have lost over $400 billion to corruption since independence.
SEE: Kuje: Emefiele remanded in a correctional centre amid procurement fraud trial
In 2019 the country ranked 144th in the 180 countries listed in Transparency International’s Corruption Index (with Somalia, at 180th, being the most corrupt, and Denmark the least) after moving up from the 148th position it occupied previously.
Emefiele is not the only government official to be convicted of fraud after serving his tenure in office. Here are other Nigerian ex-officials who have been to prison:
Lucky Igbenedion
Igbenedion was a former governor of Edo state and one of the first Nigerian ex-officials to be convicted of looting public funds and sent to prison. The EFCC charged him with 142 counts of corruption amounting to $24 million (£12m) using front companies.
The former governor entered a plea bargain with the commission in 2008 and refunded a fraction of the amount he was said to have embezzled – and went home.
James Ibori
Ibori was a former governor of Delta State who was sentenced to thirteen years in jail by a London Judge for stealing government funds in Nigeria. He was accused of stealing at least $250 million of public funds during his governorship tenure after pleading guilty to pleaded guilty to ten counts of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud at Southwark Crown Court, London.
Ibori was released from prison in December 2016 after a court order. He served only 4 years out of the 13 years he was sentenced to.
Diepreye Alamieyeseigha
Alamieyeseigha was an ex-governor of Bayelsa state sentenced to two years in jail in 2007 on charges of corruption and money laundering. He served just days of his sentence after spending nearly two years in detention awaiting trial. Alamieyeseigha was originally arrested in London in 2005, but he skipped bail and escaped back to Nigeria dressed as a woman.
He was later impeached on the charges at home and authorities made efforts to seize much of his British property.
He reportedly died of cardiac arrest at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital on the 10th of October 2015.
READ: Nigeria police set to clamp down on traffic offenders, urges citizens to update vehicle papers
Orji Kalu
Kalu served as Abia State governor from May 29, 1999, to May 29, 2007. He was convicted by the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court on Thursday, 5th of December, 2019, and sentenced to 12 years in prison for N7.65 billion fraud, among other multiple sentences ranging from 3 years to 5 years on 27 counts.
He is another one of the Nigerian ex-officials who has been to prison, as he was in custody at the Ikoyi Prisons, Lagos until 2020.
Joshua Dariye
Dariye was a former governor of Plateau state. He also served as a senator in 2018.
During his time as governor, he was arrested in London, England on 20 January 2004, with large sums of money. He was accused of stealing about $9m of public funds and money laundering. EFCC, in 2007, preferred 23 counts of money laundering involving the alleged diversion of about N1.126 billion Plateau State Government’s ecological funds.
An Abuja High Court in 2018 sentenced Dariye to 14 years imprisonment on the charges of criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of funds (1.6 billion Naira) while he was the Governor of Plateau state. In 2018, his 14-year sentence was reduced to 10 years, and he was pardoned in 2022.
James Bala Ngilari
He was a governor of northeastern Adamawa state for seven months until May 2015 and another one of the Nigerian ex-officials who has been to prison. He was convicted of awarding a contract for the procurement of 25 vehicles for 167 million Naira ($548,891) without following due process.
Ngilari was found guilty of five of the 17 charges leveled against him in September 2016 by the EFCC and sentenced to 5 years with no option in fine. His conviction was shortlived as he was later acquitted and freed by the Court of Appeal.
