The Nigeria Governors' Forum are poised for a showdown with the Chairman of Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu over alleged harassment of members in the guise of recovering the Paris Club Loan Refund misappropriated by some governors.
The Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Zamfara state, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari stated this on Thursday while speaking with journalists in Abuja.
Yari said that the EFCC under Magu was merely fighting corruption on the pages of the news paper stressing that nothing meaningful can be achieved under such administration. He added that the governors will not allow themselves to be intimidated by a mere DCP (Deputy Commissioner of Police).
“To me, I am going to write to the Federal Government that enough is enough; that either the EFCC should do its work or we should ‘do showdown’ with them (EFCC) because nobody became governor to be intimidated, to be harassed, to be abused by a DCP (Deputy Commissioner of Police), referring to Magu’s police rank.
“The problem with the EFCC is that it only wants Nigerians to know it has invited a governor or that one former governor is arrested. The commission will not tidy its work before going to court. It goes to court and lose all the cases because of the way it initiates the case; but never do so to achieve success.
"You can’t fight corruption that way and forever, they (EFCC) will not achieve anything" he added
Gov. Yari was reacting to an order by a Federal High Court that the sum of N500m and $500,000 allegedly diverted from the Paris Club refund to the states governments be forfeited to the federal government. The money was allegedly diverted from the NGF's account on Gov. Yari's directive.
Meanwhile Yari has since refuted the claim. He stated that all withdrawals from the account were authorized by the state governors. He explained that he is not signatory to the account.
