EFCC Declares Ex-governor Wanted For Alleged N76bn Fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has
declared wanted the immediate past Governor of Katsina
State, Mr. Ibrahim Shema, over an alleged N76bn fraud.
It was learnt that the EFCC declared him wanted sequel
to allegations
levelled against him by his successor, Governor Aminu
Masari.
In a gazette signed by the spokesman for the EFCC, Mr.
Wilson Uwujaren, the anti-graft agency said Shema had
ignored all invitations by the EFCC.
The gazette read in part, “The public is hereby notified
that Ibrahim Shema, a former Governor of Kastina State,
is wanted by the EFCC in connection with a case of
criminal conspiracy, inflation of contracts, abuse of
office, diversion of funds and embezzlement, running
into billions of naira.
“The former governor ignored several invitations by the
commission since December 1, 2015, when he was first
summoned by the agency. All efforts to locate him at
his known addresses in Katsina and Abuja were futile.
“The 59-year-old ex-governor hails from the Dutsena-
ma Local Government Area of Katsina State. He is tall,
light in complexion and speaks Hausa and English
fluently. Anybody, having useful information as to his
whereabouts, should contact the commission.”
Masari had expressed dissatisfaction with the handover
note presented to him by his predecessor, prompting
him to set up a probe panel into the administration of
Shema.
Masari had said he had “concrete evidence” to drag his
predecessor before the anti-graft agency to recover all
stolen funds.
According to Masari, there are some mistakes that can
be forgiven, “but N70bn is a huge amount of money that
we cannot overlook.”
The governor promised that all stolen public money
would be retrieved to correct past mistakes and bring
sanity into the public service.
He alleged that the former governor misappropriated
over N76bn collected as excess crude oil allocation and
diverted over N7.5bn into his private pocket.
Masari also alleged that Shema and other top
government officials of the Ministry of Local Government
Affairs diverted over N750m earmarked for the purchase
of drugs for ther state’s local governments.
The Katsina State governor added that his
administration was aware of a campaign of calumny
sponsored by his predecessor in the media to frustrate
him from going ahead with the probe and retrieving
stolen funds.
He alleged that more than N1.8bn was paid by the
former governor to proprietors of some newspapers for
the job.
In his response, Shema said in a letter written by his
lawyers, Wole Olanipekun (SAN) and Co, that there was
an “unwarranted and unexpected campaign of calumny
being waged against the ex-governor coupled with a
deliberate attempt to blackmail, denigrate and vilify
Shema and his aides.
He described as blatant lies, nauseating and malicious
the claims that the “Ibrahim Shema-led administration
incurred and left the state with a debt of N42bn upon
the expiration of its term; that the administration
incurred a foreign debt portfolio of $78m and that a sum
of N13bn got missing between January and May 2015.”
The former governor also debunked allegations that a
sum of N7bn was dubiously transferred to the account
of the state chapter of the Association of Local
Governments of Nigeria and same was recklessly used
by the said association.
Punch