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As politicians
jostle to secure their parties’ ticket for next year’s election, it is
not clear yet how the executives of the parties plan to deal with the
many tainted individuals who are currently jostling for elective
offices.

Despite the
threats made by the head of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), Farida Waziri, promising to stop corrupt politicians
from contesting in the coming elections, the political parties,
especially the PDP, are gearing up to field aspirants who have been
indicted by anti-corruption agencies, including some who are being
prosecuted in various courts.

Last month, Mrs.
Waziri said her agency would strive to prevent corrupt individuals from
contesting next year’s general elections.

“There is no way
that we will allow the political parties to field corrupt people.
Legally, we are empowered to look into some of these issues,” Mrs.
Waziri said.

“How do we allow
these people to come back and say that they are going to lead us? The
world will laugh at us. We see that some of them are already printing
posters and I will see how they are going to work that out. We are not
going to allow that. We want to ensure that only the proper persons
will represent us.” However indications are that Mrs Waziri’s threats
seemed of no consequence to the candidates and their parties.

Various newspapers
last week quoted a PDP source as saying the party would work with
security and anti -corruption agencies, in the screening of its
candidates. The party also submitted a list of some aspirants to the
EFCC for screening.

“The PDP has sent
us a list of some of its aspirants. We are presently going through it
and will advise them on the present corruption status of each of the
names,” a source at the EFCC stated.

Folu Olamiti, the
resident consultant on media to the ICPC however stated that the
commission was yet to be formally notified of the PDP’s intentions.

“We’ve not received any formal letter to that effect. So, we don’t know what they really want from us,” the ICPC spokesman said.

Mr. Olamiti
however stated that the ICPC would not do anything that was against the
law in order to help parties screen their candidates.

“There is a court judgement that only the court can disqualify a candidate,” he said.

When contacted for
clarification on the true position of the party as regards corrupt
political aspirants, Rufai Alkali, the PDP national publicity secretary
refused to pick our calls or respond to our text message.

Politicians at risk

Should the PDP
decide to go ahead with the planned use of anti-corruption agencies to
screen its candidates, some of its aspirants who may have trouble in
the screening include Jibrin Isah, a Kogi State gubernatorial aspirant;
Nicholas Ugbane, a serving senator and Kogi State gubernatorial
aspirant and Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, a serving senator and daughter of
former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Jibrin Isah

A former director
of AfriBank, Mr Isah alongside other directors of the Bank was indicted
by the EFCC for their involvement in the scandal that rocked the bank
which led to the removal of all the directors by the governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi.

The EFCC, on April
13, 2010 filed a 28-count charge against Mr. Isah and the other
directors of the bank. The charges include illegal approval of loans,
manipulation of bank balance sheet etc. He is currently vying for the
Kogi State governorship ticket on the platform of the PDP.

Nicholas Ugbane

Mr. Ugbane is the
chairman of the senate committee on power. He, alongside his former
counterpart in the house of representatives, Ndidi Elumelu are facing a
158-count charge by the EFCC for their alleged involvement in the
mismanagement of about N6billion meant for the Rural Electrification
Project. They were accused by the EFCC of using 21 companies to siphon
the funds. The ICPC says its investigation on the scandal is still
ongoing. He is currently vying for the governorship ticket of Kogi
State under the PDP.

Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello

The senator,
representing Ogun Central Senatorial district, has indicated interest
in running for her senatorial seat again. Mrs. Obasanjo-Bello, however,
is yet to clear her name with the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC).

She was named in
the popular N300 million unspent budget scandal which led to the
resignation of the then Minister of Health, Adenike Grange, in 2008.
Mrs. Obasanjo-Bello, who was the chairman of the senate committee on
Health at the time, and continues to head the committee, was allegedly
involved in spending N10 million out of the amount. Following her
arrest by the EFCC, she was released on bail. The case is still in
court.

Dimeji Bankole

Though Mr.
Bankole, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has been and is being
investigated by both anti-corruption agencies, EFCC and ICPC, over
different financial scandals, he is yet to be prosecuted for any.

An EFCC investigation report of the N2.8 billion Peugeot car scandal is still unaccounted for by the EFCC.

Though Mr. Bankole
has at press time not submitted his nomination form at the PDP
secretariat, he is believed to be running for the governorship of Ogun
State. However, a non-governmental organisation, the National Forum for
Transparency and Good Governance, has petitioned the PDP to bar Mr.
Bankole, and the deputy speaker, Bayero Nafada from contesting under
the party’s platform.