A warrant for the arraignment of ex-Governors, Gabriel Suswam of Benue State, Liyel Imoke of Cross River and four others has been signed by the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, Mr. Danladi Umar, the Nation reports.
While the identities of the other four is yet to be ascertained, the report says a retired Permanent Secretary is also to face trial for abuse of office while a former governor from the North East is believed to have gone on exile barely a week after the conclusion of paperworks for his trial.
Claiming that the prosecution of the ex-public office holders will start any moment from now, the newspaper noted that, “The next batch for trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal includes six ex-governors and a retired permanent secretary. The former governors are from the North-Central, North-West, South-South and North-East.
“All these ex-governors will be formally notified of their pending trial next week. Some of them have got wind of it and were already scouting for the charges.
“In fact, security reports indicated that the ex-governor from the North-East got wind of his likely arraignment before the CCT and chose to go on self-exile.
“When all is set for his trial and he fails to show up, a bench warrant will be issued for his arrest and the International Police (INTERPOL) will be mandated to fish him out.”
It was gathered that no fewer than 15 former governors under-declared their assets in gross violation of their oaths of office.
“Most of these governors preferred to hide their assets but, unknown to them, their aides or aggrieved members of their cabinets or parties and short-changed business partners used to expose them,” a source in the Code of Conduct Bureau told the newspaper.
