Three former state governors in Nigeria were charged in court on Friday with money laundering and stealing public funds.
Orji Uzor Kalu and Saminu Turaki, the former governors of Abia and Jigawa states, were taken into custody on Wednesday. Along with Joshua Dariye, the former governor of Plateau state previously in custody, they were charged in the capital, Abuja, with multiple counts of stealing public funds and money laundering.
No pleadings were made in the brief court appearance before their cases were postponed until Monday.
The former governors risk a minimum of seven years in jail if convicted on any of the charges.
Prosecutors working for the Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have pledged to bring to trial former governors accused of corruption who enjoyed constitutional immunity from prosecution while in office.
Nigeria is regularly rated one of the most corrupt countries in the world by Berlin-based watchdog Transparency International.
Despite generating hundreds of billions of dollars in oil revenues since gaining independence from Britain in 1960, living standards have fallen and most Nigerians scrape by on less than $2 a day.
There is virtually no reliable source of electricity or potable water, and few citizens have access to healthcare or decent education.
Nigeria’s new President, Umaru Yar’Adua, vowed to root out corruption after taking power in April in elections widely discredited by international and domestic observers. — Sapa-AP