Matawalle invites EFCC to search his property amid money laundering allegations

Bello Matawalle, Zamfara governor, says he would give permission to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to access a property where he is alleged to have concealed large sums of money.

The governor said this in reaction to a news report alleging that the anti-graft agency discovered billions of naira stashed in houses by himself and two other governors.

In a statement on Thursday through Ibrahim Dosara, the state’s commissioner for information, the governor said the offer to the EFCC became necessary to counter the “designed connivance by enemies of Zamfara and vanguards of disruption to rupture his hard earned reputation and the progress he had made as a governor”.

“The government will not take it lightly with anyone who tries to add salt to the security injury inflicted on the good people of Zamfara through tarnishing the good image of the governor,“ the statement reads.

According to Matawalle, he has been running the state in the most “responsible and trustworthy manner” since taking office as the governor.

The governor also demanded a retraction of the report, adding that he would not allow anyone to ridicule him before the people and relegate his administration’s efforts.

Also, in a letter addressed to the EFCC, Matawalle, through his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, said he is volunteering himself for investigation.

“This letter comes on the heels of an earlier letter writ with to you by our client, with a view to dispelling the cocktail of lies woven around our client with a view to presenting the correct facts and our client’s clear position to you,” the letter reads.

“Our client categorically states that the entire story amounts to a sheer smear campaign mounted against him by political opponents who are driven by malignant political vendetta and vicious desperation against our client’s ambition to regain his seat as governor of Zamfara state come 2023.

“Our client has voluntarily offered himself to be thoroughly investigated for the purpose of unearthing these alleged humongous monies and denigrating the governor.”

Earlier in the year, it was reported that the EFCC is investigating the governor over money laundering allegations.

The EFCC had claimed that its decision to investigate the governor emanated from intelligence it got, which indicated that the governor was allegedly “using state funds to acquire several properties worth billions of naira in Abuja”.

The EFCC said this in a counter-affidavit it filed in a fundamental rights enforcement suit instituted by a firm, Fezel Nigeria Limited.

Fezel accused the EFCC of invading its property which is leased to a printing press company.

But the commission insisted that the property was allegedly acquired by the Zamfara governor.

However, delivering judgment in the suit on August 30, Inyang Ekwo, the presiding judge, held that the firm effectively established its ownership of the property and that the manner the EFCC forcefully entered and took over the property violated the applicant’s fundamental human rights.

The judge also held that the EFCC lacked the powers to seal off any citizen’s property or deny him/her access to it without first obtaining a court order.