Impeached Nigerian Governor flees to Ghana?

THE Governor of Nigeria's southwestern Ekiti State, who was impeached by the local Parliament today, has fled to Ghana in the face of corruption charges, media reports have said.

The State Parliament this morning stripped Ayo Fayose and his deputy, Biodun Olujimi, of their posts and was due to elect a new governor later in the day, according to the private Channels TV station and Rhythm 93.7 FM radio.

Mr Fayose, one of many top Nigerians being probed in an anti-corruption drive launched by President Olusegun Obasanjo, has taken refuge in Ghana, the Punch newspaper reported, but other national dailies said he had left for an unknown destination.

But Mr Fayose's information commissioner, Gboyega Oguntuase denied that the governor had fled, explaining that the latter was observing a “spiritual retreat” in a hideout.

“He (Mr Fayose) is still in Ekiti. He in on a spiritual retreat. And you do not expect him to do it in a market place,” Mr Fatuase said, who described the governor's impeachment as a “naked rape on democracy.”

“This is naked rape on democracy. It could not have been possible without the open support of the presidency which is a carry-over of the military past of the present occupant of that office (Obasanjo). Procedure was not followed and as far as we are concerned, the impeachment is void,” he added.

Hundreds of soldiers surrounded the Governor's residence in the morning, the NAN news agency reported.

National deputy police spokesman, Yemi Ajayi, said: “The Governor is not in police custody. His whereabouts are not known to us.”

At the end of September, 24 of the 26 members of the State Parliament signed a motion to impeach Mr Fayose and the deputy governor.

The national Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has probed the management of Ekiti State funds for the past year, as part of steps across the west African country to crack down on endemic corruption.

The EFCC indicted two of Mr Fayose's aides on corruption charges in August.

Mr Fayose is the third Nigerian state governor to be impeached for corruption, after Dipreye Alamieyseigha of the petrol-rich southern Bayelsa State in December 2005 and Rasheed Ladoja of Oyo State in the southwest early this year.

But this is the first time since the return of democracy to Nigeria in may 1999 that a governor and his deputy would be sacked at the same time.

Joshua Dariye, the Governor of the central Plateau State, also risks losing his job. One person was killed and another wounded on Friday when police fired on demonstrators backing Mr Dariye who had gathered at the State Parliament building while several MPs inside were moving to impeach him.

Nigeria's anti-corruption tsar, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, told the country's Senate that the EEFC was investigating no fewer than 31 of the 36 state governors. In presenting an EEFC report to senators on September 28, Mr Ribadu said more than a dozen cases were “almost ready for prosecution”.

State governors responded on Saturday in a joint letter where they warned local parliaments not to try to impeach them illegally, claiming that such moves would destroy seven years' effort in building democracy in Nigeria.

While some Nigerians, especially politicians, accuse the EFCC of serving as Obasanjo's tool against his political foes, others commend the agency for waging a good battle against corruption.