The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has accused Zamfara State Governor, Abdullaziz Yari, of diverting $3million being part of the State’s share of the recently disbursed Paris Club refund cash, for the construction of a hotel in Lagos.
Although the anti-graft agency claimed it identified a property under construction at the Lekki area of Lagos purportedly owned by the Governor, no specific address or pictures were provided in releases made available to various news media by the Commission.
The development follows a pattern of high profile political graft revelations by EFCC which has left many wondering if the agency is rather more obsessed with smearing suspects before the court of public opinion than pursuing successful prosecution in the court of law.
Many of such cases including those involving Stephen Oronsaye, former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Ayo Fayose, Ekiti State Governor, Fani Kayode, former media aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan and Olisa Metuh, former PDP National Publicity Secretary, have suffered setbacks in courts due to both lack of diligent prosecution and substantiable evidence.
Recently, the legal luminary, Femi Falana, worried by the spate of losses by the EFCC at the courts, articulated what he felt were the reasons for such legal losses, chief of which was the “lack of proper investigation.”
A similar scenario seems to be playing out with the latest accusation against Governor Yari and it is only hoped that the anti-graft agency will for once, get its acts right.
