EFCC promises to revisit corruption allegations against ex-governor Matawalle

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said Monday that it would revisit the allegations of funds embezzlement levelled against former Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle.

The spokesperson for the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, said this while addressing protesters who stormed the commission’s headquarters in Abuja to demand the probe of Mr Matawalle, the incumbent Minister of State for Defence.

Mr Oyewale assured the protesters that their demands would be relayed to the EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, adding that “the EFCC will do everything within its power to investigate every act of economic and financial crime.”

The protesters, under the aegis of the APC Akida Forum, had gathered at the EFCC headquarters to lodge a petition, urging the commission to proceed with its investigation of Mr Matawalle.

Speaking on behalf of the group at the EFCC headquarters, Musa Mahmud noted that they had confidence in the anti-graft agency especially with the doggedness it demonstrated in einvestigation th alleged money laundering case involving former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State.

He also recalled last week’s arrest of former Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State over alleged corruption, while questioning the inaction of the anti-graft on Mr Matawalle’s case.

Mahmud said, “We are confident that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has access to all the facts regarding financial crimes in the country. Nevertheless, we believe it is necessary to determine the total funds that the Zamfara State Government received between 2019 and 2023 under Bello Matawalle.

“We are making these efforts because, to our dismay, the former governor appeared on a live TV program, misleading the public by stating that he did not receive anything close to N70 billion during his four-year tenure as governor of Zamfara State.

“We urge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate this matter in order to uphold its credibility and neutrality in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.”

Not new case

The alleged corruption case involving Mr Matawalle, who was the Zamfara State governor between May 2019 and May 2023, is not new to EFCC.

In May 2023, less than two weeks before the end of Mr Matawalle’s tenure as governor, EFCC announced that it was investigating him over alleged diversion of N70 billion from the Zamfara State Government’s treasury.

EFCC’s then-Director of Public Affairs, Osita Nwaja, made the announcement at a press briefing at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

READ ALSO: EXCLUSIVE: EFCC detains, charges ex-governor Ishaku over alleged N27bn fraud

He said “the real issue with Matawalle is that he is being investigated by the EFCC, over allegations of corruption, award of phantom contracts and diversion of over N70 billion.”

The disclosure came less than 24 hours after Mr Matawalle asked the then-EFCC chair, Abdulrasheed Bawa, to step down and allow the anti-graft agency to beam its searchlight on Nigeria’s presidency officials and outgoing ministers.

After the public spat between him and the EFCC, and with Mr Matawalle later emerging a minister in the cabinet of the new administration of President Bola Tinubu, the matter went totally cold.

However, Mr Bello’s successor, Governor Dauda Lawal, recently thrusted the matter to public attention, accusing him of sponsoring bandits terrorising the state and a series of corruption. Mr Matawalle has denied the allegations.