The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has submitted case files on three serving governors to the President, according to investigations carried out by Leadership Newspapers.
The serving governors are Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers). According to insiders the governors are coming under threat due to their various levels of interest in the 2015 Presidency. Some observers are calling for a Lamido/Amaechi ticket, and so the Presidency is said to have sought damning information against them in order to rubbish their goal for 2015.
A source says, “Before the middle of this year, you will see serious dramas between Mr. President and some governors. Already, Sule Lamido, Amaechi and Uduaghan are marked. Everything will be done to embarrass them including impeachment threats. May I inform you that Lamorde has already submitted their files to President Jonathan last week.”
The source also said the three governors may get the same treatment meted out to former Bayelsa State governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, and may also face impeachment threats in order to demoralize them and cause them to abandon their ambitions.
Whilst the President has not signaled his intention to contest in the 2015 elections, it is widely speculated that he will not choose to step down in 2015, as part of an earlier agreement made between him and other PDP stalwarts during the build-up to the 2011 elections.
Responding to the allegations, a past official of the Rivers State Ministry of Information and Communication, Mr. Blessing Wikina said,
“We are not aware that the EFCC is investigating Governor Amaechi. But if they do, we will not be surprised because that is how the EFCC always behaves whenever the country is approaching an election year.
“The fact is that we are used to their antics and it will end the way other efforts of theirs ended. We are not afraid of them.”
Also reacting to the issue, the Delta State commissioner for information, Barrister Chike Ogeah, said: “Yes, it is true that some persons who claimed to be in the opposition have written a petition to the EFCC regarding the airport project. Yes, I am aware that as the chief executive of the state, he has to answer the case, because it beholds on him to answer; it is normal in a state like ours where the opposition keep an eye on projects, whether properly executed or not, as their weapon. All the same there is no cause for alarm.”
