Return stolen funds or face ICPC, Makinde tells ex-Oyo public officers

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, on Thursday urged ex-public office holders in the state to return stolen funds in their possession or risk prosecution by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

The governor made the call while receiving the ICPC team led by its Chairman, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, in his office at the Executive Chambers of the Governor’s Office in Agodi, Ibadan.

Makinde said his administration decided to set up the state anti-corruption agency because it is not interested in which-hunting the immediate past administration in the state or individuals.

He said: “We are not here to witch-hunt the past administration or individuals. That is probably why you (ICPC) have not seen a lot of petitions coming from us. But as we have progressed, what we have seen is that some of the resources were mismanaged.”

“We have been talking to the people involved. If they return those resources, then, we will probably don’t need to come to ICPC because the whole idea is for you to help us recover those resources of state government that had been stolen. If they refused to cooperate, I am just putting them on notice now, then we will come to ICPC for assistance.”

The governor also promised that he would publicly declare his assets at the end of his tenure just like he did on his assumption office for accountability.

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Makinde: “We have taken corruption as a cankerworm that we know can destroy all of us if not checked. Most importantly, for the leaders, you have very few of us that decide to hold ourselves accountable. That is why upon resumption of office, I publicly declare my assets. I did not want people to start going through FoI (Freedom of Information Act) channel to have clarity of where one is coming from.”

“At the end of my tenure of office, I also will come out to declare my assets publicly to close it out. I strongly believe that, even if we are able to reduce the amount of transactions with elements of corruption, we may just reduce it by 30 to 40 percent. It is a huge amount that will become available to develop our country and our state.”

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