EFCC has been hijacked - Yari

Gov. Abdulaziz Yari.

Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), Abdulaziz Yari, at the weekend said that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been hijacked by certain forces in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Yari, who is the governor of Zamfara State and at the centre of the $3 million allegedly used to build a 100-room hotel in Lagos, said the target of the EFCC probe of the Paris Club refund was not him, but President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade.

The governor said those raising the alarm about the missing Paris Club funds were those who lost in last November’s governorship election in Ondo State. “The Paris Club refund came on the verge of doing an election and some of the politicians that were not happy with the outcome of the election thought that the Governors’ Forum fund was used to win the election. “So they are not happy with the outcome and unfortunately it isn’t the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), it is APC.

Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu won the APC controversial primaries and subsequently won the election. Yari said the motive behind the accusation was to rubbish the president’s anti-corruption campaign by making him to appear corrupt.

The governor accused the mastermind of the attack on him of working hard to make the anti-corruption war to look selective, using the ongoing trial of the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd). “They are trying to paint a picture of a government holding people like Dasuki for using public funds for the 2015 elections, attempting to accuse the same government of using the Paris Club refund for election in Ondo State.

“So the target is the president, which to me they didn’t know how this thing (election funding) happened. But they are hammering on Yari, but it isn’t me they are after, it is the president. And the EFCC played to the gallery.

“Let me tell you that there is no connection in the N19 billion and that election. But some politicians are looking at it and they want to hammer from there. And to our dismay, the EFCC is dancing to the tune of these people,” Yari said.

The governor said he had received over N300 billion for the state since he became governor six years ago, but did not steal $3 million or N2.2 billion from such huge funds in his charge.

“In the last tenure, both the monies from the local government and state government was over N300 billion and the dollar was N156. “Am I hungry and looking for $3 million when I have the state funds under my charge? So I am waiting for them to tell you where the hotel is located, where the plot is and how they came about it.

Above all, I am preparing my lawyers and we are heading to court,” the governor stated. The NGF chairman, however, said he was using the bailout money given to the states by the Federal Government to offset salaries and allowances of workers in the state, in line with the directive given by President Buhari.

In a reaction to Yari's claim of the anti-graft agency being controlled by some forces, Wilson Uwajare, spokesman of the EFCC said; “The commission does not need to be prodded by any forces to do its work and will not be drawn into any debate regarding its investigation,” 

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