Nigeria ex-president's daughter charged with graft

By Camillus Eboh

ABUJA, April 8 (Reuters) - A daughter of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and two former health ministers were charged in court on Tuesday with embezzling around 470 million naira ($4 million) of public health funds.

President Umaru Yar'Adua, who took over from Obasanjo in May after winning a turbulent election, has pledged a campaign of "zero tolerance" against graft in Africa's top oil exporter, which is rated among the world's most corrupt states.

With a parliamentary commission probing allegations that billions of dollars were squandered on shady unfinished power projects during Obasanjo's rule, calls have increased for the former president to be called to testify in the enquiry.

The charges brought by prosecutors at the High Court in the capital Abuja against his daughter, Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, who chairs the Senate health committee, were the first to be made against a member of Obasanjo's family since he stepped down.

The two ex-ministers charged, Adenike Grange and Gabriel Aduku, were forced to resign last month after the scandal over misuse of Health Ministry funds emerged in February. They had been serving as the minister and minister of state for health and were the first cabinet casualties of the new administration.

The former ministers and nine top health officials pleaded not guilty in court to the 54-count charges levelled against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which says a total of 471 million naira was embezzled.

Obasanjo-Bello, who was not present in court, was accused of illicitly receiving 10 million naira of the money.

In comments to Nigerian media, she has denied wrongdoing, saying she collected the money to pay for the travel expenses of the Senate health committee members for a visit to Ghana.