2019: Fear Grips PDP Bigwigs Over EFCC Crackdown
‘It is An Attempt to Crush Us Before Election’ They Should Answer For Their Sins – Lai Mohammed Lawbreakers Should Face The Law – APC
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) recently tightened its noose over party chieftains, mostly of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party. Some of the targets were detained and arraigned on charges of corruption. But while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said the crackdown was an attempt to ensure it does not reclaim power in 2019, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) insists that those found to have stolen public funds must face the law. By Fidelis Mac-Leva, Muideen Olaniyi, Saawuaý Terzungwe & By Latifat Opoola
The Kano State office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was, on Wednesday, May 23, 2018 thrown into pandemonium when supporters of a former governor of the state, Ibrahim Shekarau, attempted to block his rescheduled visit to the anti-graft agency. Hundreds of supporters of the former education minister were said to have thronged the Hajj Camp Road office of the EFCC to protest what they called “persecution” by the agency.
The following day, Shekarau, along with two others, was arraigned before a Federal High Court in Kano for allegedly converting N950 million to personal use. The two others are Ambassador Aminu Bashir Wali and Engr. Mansur Ahamed. They are currently facing trial on a sixcount charge of money laundering, contrary to Section 18(a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011 as amended.
Supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) believe that Shekarau’s prosecution is part of the crackdown by the EFCC on the opposition ahead of the 2019 elections. This is especially as it is coming after he indicated interest to run for presidential election in 2019 and granted media interviews where he picked holes with what he termed anti-masses policies of the current administration.
They specifically cited that prior to his invitation by the EFCC, Shekarau, a chieftain of the PDP, had lampooned the anti-graft agency for losing some of its cases in court because it was hasty in prosecuting them.
Shekarau, who declared support for the ongoing fight against corruption but advised the Federal Government to be just and fair to all, reportedly said: “If you rush a thing it would ultimately crash. The anti-graft agency lost the cases because it was in a hurry to prosecute them without conducting proper investigation.’’
Sule Ya’u Sule, his special assistant on media, in a statement, noted that the development was a sign that the president was jittery ahead of the 2019 elections and was seeking to harass strong aspirants, including Shekarau.
“Few weeks after granting a media interview where he scored the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari very low, the anti-corruption agency has now decided to arraign Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau in court on allegation of receiving PDP’s campaign fund.
“Despite lack of concrete evidence, the EFCC is insisting on prosecuting the former governor and minister of education on the allegation that he was offered N25million for logistics during the 2015 elections.
“Since 2016 when the issue of election campaign funds came up, Mallam Shekarau was invited by the EFCC to explain the amount allegedly given to him, along with other stakeholders of the party in Kano State. But he denied receiving the said amount, and challenged the EFCC to produce anyone or concrete evidence to prove that he collected the money.
“Based on this, the former minister was asked to go. However, and surprisingly too, for a reason best known to the EFCC, we received communication from the anticorruption agency that the former minister was to be arraigned before a Federal High Court in Kano on Thursday this week (May 24, 2018) over the same alleged N25 million election fund.
“We are aware that the coming weeks and months would witness arraignment of opposition leaders, especially top members of the PDP who have refused to decamp to the APC,” the statement alleged.
The former Kano State governor is not the only PDP bigwig crying foul over EFCC’s renewed wave of crackdown that has raised concerns among the embattled opposition. Another former governor, Jonah Jang of Plateau State, was also recently detained and later arraigned by the EFCC before Justice Daniel Longji of the Plateau State High Court in Jos on a 12-count charge bordering on misappropriation of funds, to the tune of N6.3billion.
Specifically, the EFCC accused Jang of pocketing N2billion released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for disbursement to small and medium enterprises in the state under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Funds (MSMEDF), just a month before the expiration of his tenure in April 2015.
The former governor, now representing Plateau North in the Senate, accused the Minister for Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, of masterminding his unlawful detention by the EFCC.
In a press statement signed by his