Former Kwara State governor and senator representing Kwara Central in the National Assembly, Dr Bukola Saraki, is to appear before a crack team of investigators of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over his alleged involvement in fraud-related matters during his eight-year period as governor and his time as executive director of the defunct Societe Generale Bank Nigeria Limited (SGBN).
A dependable source confided in us last night that the ex-governor has been invited by the EFCC and is due to appear before the anti-graft crack team on Wednesday at the Idiagbon House, base of the operations arm of the EFCC at its headquarters in Abuja.
Though the identities of members of the investigating team remain cloudy at press time, we gathered that the team may be led by an assistant commissioner of police who is dreaded for his reputation as a consummate fraud buster.
It was also learnt that the EFCC had compiled a dossier on the ex- governor that contains several allegations of fraud that borders on abuse of office and money laundering which the ant-graft body had covertly investigated over the past few years.
Based on these findings, the commission, we gathered, is now ready to confront the ex-governor with the evidence of his alleged financial indiscretion both as governor and as the executive director of SGBN.
The EFCC is said to have concluded the investigation into the mega fraud that triggered the collapse of the SGBN years ago but could not move against Saraki in spite of the overwhelming evidence against him on the grounds of the immunity he enjoyed as a sitting governor. Saraki ruled Kwara State between 2003 and 2011.
In the twilight of his tenure, Saraki became a powerful political figure as the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF). His name featured prominently in the high-wire game of intrigues that allegedly forced the pioneer former chairman of the EFCC, Mr Nuhu Ribadu, out of the commission and ultimately into exile, after he moved against the former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, who is now serving a jail term in a United Kingdom prison for money laundering offences.