EFCC Chairman Demanded $2m Bribe From Me – Matawalle
The governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle, has accused Abdulrasheed Bawa of being the head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), saying,
He said that the EFCC chairman had asked him for a $2 million bribe.
He made the claim as the tension between the governor and the anti-graft organization grew.
Matawalle demanded Bawa’s resignation in a statement on Wednesday, asserting that Bawa had corruption-related problems to address.
Asserting that he had nothing to conceal, the EFCC Chairman told Matawalle to contact the proper authorities if he had any evidence against him.
In an interview with BBC Hausa, Matawalle insisted that Bawa could not be trusted.
“It is not just to always blame governors. It is not only governors who have treasury, the federal government also has. What does the EFCC boss do to them? As he is claiming he has evidence on governors, let him show to the world evidence of those at the federal level.
“If he exits office, people will surely know he is not an honest person. I have evidence against him. Let him vacate office, I am telling you within 10 seconds probably more than 200 people will bring evidences of bribe he collected from them. He knows what he requested from me but I declined.
“He requested a bribe of $2 million from me and I have evidence of this. He knows the house we met, he invited me and told me the conditions. He told me governors were going to his office but I did not. If I don’t have evidence, I won’t say this.”
Contacted for reaction, Wilson Uwujaren, spokesman of the anti-graft agency, said he had not seen the story so he could not respond.
Told it was on BBC Hausa where Matawalle spoke, he said he could not speak Hausa and asked that the story link be sent for a response, but he had not responded at the time of filing this report.