Nigerian president faces corruption dilemma

ABUJA, June 12 (Reuters) Nigeria's new president needs to show he is serious about fighting corruption but he risks alienating the political establishment if he cracks down on former state governors suspected of graft.

The anti-corruption Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has summoned 15 of the 36 former state governors for questioning and has threatened to prosecute some of them.

About half of the ex-governors who were summoned have appeared before EFCC investigators over the past week and the Nigerian press has been full of speculation about what, if anything, would happen to them next.

State governors are powerful figures in Nigeria, with discretionary powers over millions of dollars of public money and immunity from prosecution while in office. The 15 facing summons lost their immunity when they stepped down on May 29.

For years governors were considered untouchable, so the fact that some are being questioned is big news in Nigeria.

For Umaru Yar'Adua, an ex-governor who was sworn in as president on May 29 after elections marred by vote-rigging and condemned as ''not credible'' by international observers, how to handle his former peers is a major headache.

Yar'Adua faces legitimacy problems because of the flawed elections and his political base is weak. Insiders say that as a result, he is reluctant to antagonise the ex-governors, some of whom helped him to power.

On the other hand, Nigeria is considered one of the world's most corrupt countries by independent watchdog Transparency International and Yar'Adua has pledged to act against this.

SACRED COW SYNDROME ''The political situation is unstable and there are negotiations going on to try and form a government of national unity,'' said a former minister with high-level contacts in political circles.

''The problem is that some of the people that EFCC would like to catch are central to those negotiations,'' said the source, who did not wish to be named because the matter is sensitive.

''The EFCC is being told 'do your job, but for God's sake look at the bigger picture','' he said.

Such comments infuriate anti-corruption campaigners, who considered the EFCC to be politically biased under the previous administration and were hoping for better things under Yar'Adua.

''So far we are very disappointed,'' said Lilian Ekeanyanwu, national coordinator of the Zero Corruption Coalition. She said the EFCC was being too soft on the ex-governors and if it was serious, it should press charges.

''What we have is a continuation of the sacred cow syndrome.

Because of the pervasive nature of corruption in Nigeria, the EFCC needs to send a strong signal and right now it is doing the opposite of that,'' she said.

''This is a chance for Yar'Adua to earn the credibility that he did not earn through the elections. But what we are seeing does not augur well.'' The EFCC was created in 2003 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and many Nigerians saw it as his tool because it went after his opponents while leaving his allies undisturbed.

Yar'Adua, who was plucked from obscurity by Obasanjo, is under pressure to prove he is not the ex-president's puppet.

Campaigners say he could achieve that by letting the EFCC go after whoever it wants - even Obasanjo's friends.

Reuters RKM GC1914