He argued that the trial of the erstwhile governors after their four or eight-year tenure is unconstitutional.
Speaking via a statement personally signed by him on Thursday, Obidigbo lamented that the anti-graft agency seems to have become a willing tool in the hands of desperate politicians and malicious businessmen with an axe to grind against their opponents.
He said, “For the EFCC to keep losing many court cases shows that all is not well with the commission’s standard operating mechanism.”
The elder pointed out that the same constitution that grants immunity to state chief executives cannot simultaneously empower an external organ to subject them to a post-service inquisition.
He insisted that the EFCC should stop overstepping its constitutional bounds by arrogating to itself a superior role over the State House of Assembly.
“A lot of things are going topsy-turvy in this country. The harassment of state governors after their tour of duty is in total violation of constitutional provisions. In the presidential democracy which we pretend to practise, the legislature is the main organ of oversight on the activities of the executive.
“In recent times, the EFCC has transformed itself into an attack dog, going after former governors. Governors are elected to serve the people; as such, the people are better placed to police the governors through their representatives in the legislature.
“Security votes have been rendered opaque by the constitution, which categorises them as funds in a blind budget. So, if the constitution empowers state governors to implement the blind budget as they deem fit, the EFCC should have no business searching for departed sums.
“There is no reason a former governor should be dragged up and down in the name of fighting corruption without the input of his home state,” he said.
The elder statesman wondered why former presidents, who enjoy the same constitutional immunity as state governors, are not subjected to post-service inquisition. He called on the National Assembly to ensure that the EFCC does not become an emerging danger to Nigeria’s democracy.
