Matawalle has accused the EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, of demanding two million dollars bribe from him.
By Emma Ogbuehi
The Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle has accused the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, of demanding a two million dollars bribe from him.
He made the allegation during an interview with BBC Hausa on Friday, amid the ongoing rift between the governor and the anti-graft agency.
Matawalle had earlier called for Bawa’s resignation, saying he had questions to answer on corruption.
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However, the EFCC Chairman responded that he had nothing to hide while asking Matawalle to petition appropriate authorities if he had any evidence against him.
Shortly after, the Commission alleged that Matawalle was under investigation for alleged award of phantom contracts and diversion of over N70billion.
It said the cash was sourced as a loan from an old generation bank purportedly for the execution of projects which were never done. EFCC chief Osita Nwajah made the disclosure on Thursday while addressing journalists at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
The anti-graft agency claimed that more than 100 companies have received payments from the funds, with no evidence of service rendered to the State.
However, speaking during an interview with BBC Hausa, Matawalle insisted that Bawa could not be trusted.
Matawalle said, “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 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 the office, I am telling you within 10 seconds probably more than 200 people will bring evidence of bribes he collected from them. He knows what he requested from me but I declined.
“He requested a bribe of two million dollars 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.”
