According to Punch, the sum implicated in cases involving the former state leaders and ministers amounts to at least N772.2 billion.
The EFCC is also probing an alleged N81.6 billion embezzlement within the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
Additionally, a staggering $2.2 billion is reported to have been misappropriated through money laundering and fund diversion, primarily in the defense sector.
This $2.2 billion was allegedly mishandled by individuals including former National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki; late media mogul Raymond Dokpesi; former Sokoto State governor Attahiru Bafarawa; and ex-Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda, among others.
The funds, intended for arms procurement to combat terrorism, were reportedly laundered and misappropriated.
Key figures implicated in these cases include ex-governors Kayode Fayemi and Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State; Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State; Chimaroke Nnamani and Sullivan Chime of Enugu State; Abdullahi Adamu of Nasarawa State; Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State; Peter Odili of Rivers State; Theodore Orji of Abia State; Danjuma Goje of Gombe State; Aliyu Wamako of Sokoto State; Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State; and Sule Lamido of Jigawa State.
These investigations stem from allegations ranging from non-remittance of pension funds to campaign fraud and massive money laundering.
Matawalle, who is currently serving as the Minister of Defence in the administration of President Bola Tinubu, is being probed for alleged N70bn money laundering; while Fayemi, who served as Minister of Solid Minerals Development in former President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet from November 11, 2015 to May 30, 2018, before resigning to contest the governorship election for his second term, is being investigated for an alleged N4billion fraud, while Fayose, a two-term governor of Ekiti State, is being investigated by the anti-graft agency for an alleged N6.9bn fraud.
Nnamani is being probed for an alleged N5.3bn fraud; Chime is being investigated over an alleged N450m campaign fraud as part of the N23bn allegedly shared by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, while Adamu is under probe for alleged N15billion fraud.
Goje is being probed by the commission for an alleged N5bn fraud; Wammako is being investigated for allegedly diverting N15bn; Sylva, a former Minister of State for Petroleum under Buhari, is under probe for alleged N19.2bn money laundering; while Lamido is being investigated over an alleged N1.35 billion fraud.
Diezani is being probed over several alleged money laundering cases running into several billions of naira and millions of dollars.
Sources that spoke with the Platform on Friday said that the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, was reviewing all the high-profile cases, and had since his assumption of office reappointed investigators to take up the several probes without prejudice to the suspects’ social or political status.
The reopening of these cases marks a significant moment in Nigeria’s ongoing efforts to tackle corruption at the highest levels of government and public service. The outcomes of these investigations are awaited with keen interest by the public and are expected to have substantial implications for governance and the rule of law in the country.
The source said, “The chairman is reviewing all high profile cases, and he has ordered the investigators not to treat anyone differently, especially politically exposed persons, such as former governors and ministers, who were indicted for money laundering.”