North Central Gov in EFCC trouble for N60bn cash withdrawal suspect on watch-list—EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crime Commission has said in its bulletin EFCC Alert that a North Central state governor has entered into its bad books for flagrantly withdrawing cash to the tune of N60 billion since he became the governor of the state in six years ago, 2015. Although the governor’s name was kept under wraps since he still enjoys immunity until May 29, 2023, the EFCC has said that Nigerians will be able to get the details of the cash manipulations with impunity once the North-Central governor’s tenure elapses. The Chairman of the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, said this in the latest edition of the commission’s magazine “EFCC ALERT”.

Bawa said that the exposure on the looting of the huge cash was made possible through the newly established Intelligence Department of the commission. “I can tell you for free that the new Department of Intelligence that we have created is working wonders. “They have come up with a lot of intelligence findings. In one of them, a governor in a North-Central state within the last six years (one individual) has withdrawn over N60 billion in cash. We are looking at all of that, and I assure you that at the end of all of our investigations, Nigerians are going to be briefed of what we are doing behind the scene on cybercrime, politically exposed persons as well as engaging government agencies to ensure that we have better processes and procedures on how to do government business,” Bawa said.

Bawa said “We have recovered N20billion from the bailout fund that was given to them. So that is the record and the evidence is there. We are not setting out to be engaging with people on the pages of newspapers or press conferences. We are working hard trying to see what we can do behind the scenes [to eradicate corruption]. And very soon, Nigerians are going to see some of the things that we are doing. I can tell you for free that the new Department of Intelligence that we have created is working wonders. They have come up with a lot of intelligence. In one of them, a governor in a North-Central state within the last six years (one individual) has withdrawn over N60billion in cash. We are looking at all of that, and I assure you that at the end of all of our investigations, Nigerians are going to be briefed of what we are doing behind the scene on cybercrime, politically exposed persons as well as engaging government agencies to ensure that we have better processes and procedures on how to do government business.

On Ex-state governors’ corruption cases He said “I can assure you that we are working [on them]. We don’t want to talk about matters that are under investigation. Yes, we invited a former governor [Lucky Igbinedion] for interrogation. He was with us for two days and he has been released; investigation is ongoing, but we are being careful and cautious, so we won’t be accused of engaging in a media trial. On convictions of elements who have committed economic and financial crimes, Bawa said that from January to November 16, 2021 the anti-graft agency recorded an unprecedented 1,576 convictions”. The chairman said “We are changing the narrative here, because I will also want to report that 122 were discharged and acquitted. Now, compare that with the success that we have recorded in terms of convictions. It shows that we lost less than 10 per cent of our cases”. Bawa also vowed to pursue all ongoing corruption cases to a logical conclusion no matter who is involved and send a strong message to corrupt elements in the country, disclosing that no fewer than 1499 persons had already been convicted.

The highest number of convictions that the Commission secured previously was 1,282 or thereabout. So, we have beaten that record. I have said it time and again that no agency of government has contributed to the development of law in Nigeria in the last ten years than the EFCC. We are all over the place trying to see that we eradicate economic and financial crime through prosecution. So that is the record and the evidence is there. We are not setting out to be engaging with people on the pages of newspapers or press conferences. We are working hard trying to see what we can do behind the scenes to eradicate corruption.