Nigeria is rated as one of the most corrupt country in the world and it for this reason President Muhammadu Buhari was voted into office in 2015 to help fight this evil that has hindered the growth of Africa’s most populous country.
However, Buhari has struggled to tame corruption which seem to be an epidemic of sort in the Nigerian society. And we take a look at the corruption cases currently been tackled in court.
Murtala Nyako
The ex-Governor of Adamawa State is in court for a whopping ₦29 billion fraud case. The case is been heard by Justice Okon Abang at the federal high court in Maitama, Abuja. Nyako entered politics in 2006 and was elected Governor of Adamawa State in April 2007.
In February 2008 the Election Petition Appeal Tribunal annulled his election, alleging electoral malpractices. The House Speaker James Barka was sworn in as Acting Governor on 26 February 2008.
A fresh election was run, and Nyako was re-elected with a landslide victory taking all 21 Local Government Areas, resuming office on 29 April 2008. Soon after, the House initiated moved to impeach Nyako, but was dissuaded after the personal intervention of late President Umaru Yar’Adua.
The relationship improved, and in March 2010 the Adamawa State House of Assembly passed a vote of confidence in Governor Nyako, describing him as a “messiah” to the people of the state. In 2012 after the Governor’s first tenure, he ran for a second term and was once again re-elected.
On July 15, 2014, the governor was impeached as the state House of Assembly deliberated on the report of an investigative panel that probed allegations of financial misconduct against him. The report found the governor guilty of all the 16 allegations of gross misconduct leveled against him by the House.
On 11 February 2016 the Federal Court of Appeal declared the impeachment null and void and ordered that all his entitlements accrued from the date of impeachment be paid to him. The judgment was upheld on 16 December 2016 by the Supreme Court of Nigeria but declined to reinstate him.
Alex Badeh
Alex Badeh, former Chief of Air Staff, has been accused of diverting the sum of $900,000 (₦3.3bn) from the Nigerian Air Force into his personal account, between January and December 2013.
The case is currently been held at the Abuja Federal High Court, Maitama, Abuja with Justice Okon Akang precising over the case.
Badeh, alongside his company, Iyalikam Nigeria Limited are standing trial on a 10 counts of money laundering bordering on alleged fraudulent removal of about N3.97bn from NAF’s account.
Badeh initiated and constructed the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) extension complex fitted with a befitting joint operations room, conference hall, the office spaces, Penthouse to receive guests.
During the military operations against terror in North Eastern Nigeria, there was a need to feed the public with accurate and timely news therefore Badeh established the Armed Forces Radio broadcasting form Mogadishu Cantonment broadcasting on 107.7 FM to tackle the challenge of negative media coverage against the Nigerian Military The radio station enabled military to tell its side of events, over security orientation and information.
Other projects completed by Alex Badeh as Chief of Defence Staff includes the Armed Forces DNA Laboratory, which has allowed for easy identification of casualties of war, the Defence Space Agency, commissioning of 30 Gun Boats in the Niger Delta region amongst others
Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu
The former Governor of Niger State was accused of laundering the sum of ₦2bn and he is being tried in the Federal high court, Minna, Niger under Justice Yellim Bogoro.
In the March 2015 presidential and senate elections, Gov Aliyu failed in his senate race against David Umaru of the All Progressives Congress, who obtained 149,443 as against 46,459 votes for the governor. On April 11, 2015, he failed to win in his own polling unit in governorship and state assembly elections in polling unit 006 where Aliyu’s PDP only obtained 100 votes against 361 votes for Kofar Danjuma Mainadi of the APC
Others include David Nwachukwu (₦1bn), Olisa Metuh (₦ 400m), Adamu Moh’d (₦10.7m), Ifeanyi Ozoene (₦3m), Justice Moh’d Yinusa (₦2.2m).