EFCC: A serving governor withdrew N60bn cash in six years

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has revealed that a serving governor has withdrawn N60 billion cash in the last six years.

“A governor in a North-Central state within the last six years (one individual) has withdrawn over N60 billion in cash,” the EFCC chairman stated in the anti-graft agency’s in-house monthly publication, EFCCALERT.

Bawa is silent on the identity of the governor, but he stated that the governor is from the North-Central.

There are six states in the North-Central – Plateau, Kogi, Benue, Kwara, Nasarawa and Niger.

The Star reports that of the six North-Central states only Governors Simon Lalong (Plateau), Samuel Ortom (Benue), and Abubakar Sani Bello (Niger) have spent six years.

Governor Yahaya Bello (Kogi) would be six years in office by January 2022.

Governors AbdulRasaq AbdulRaham (Kwara) and Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa) are the only governors from the North-Central who have spent less than three years; the duo came on board in 2019.

Hence, AbdulRaham and Sule did not fall into Bawa’s calculation.

Speaking on the recovery of N20 billion from the Kogi State bailout fund, the EFCC chairman stated that the agency is working hard to tackle corruption.

His words: “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 In one of them, a governor in a North-Central state within the last six years (one individual) has withdrawn over N60 billion in cash.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.”