The chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has been accused of demanding $2 million bribe from the Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State.
Matawalle revealed this this amid the growing rift between the governor and the anti-graft agency, while also calling for the resignation of Bawa, saying he had questions to answer on corruption.
The governor, in an interview with BBC Hausa, stated that the anti-graft agency chairman could not be trusted.
“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 to 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 office, I am telling you within 10 seconds probably more than 200 people will bring evidences of bribe he collected from them. He knows what he requested from me but I declined.
“He requested a bribe of $2 million 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,” he alleged.
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Responding, the EFCC Chairman stated that he had nothing to hide and asked Matawalle to petition appropriate authorities if he had any evidence against him.
In another development, a Federal High Court in Kaduna has sentenced Ismail Mustapha, a 37-year-old trader, to two years imprisonment for unlawful possession of Cannabis sativa (hemp).
The judge, Hadiza Shagari, passed the sentence on Mustapha after he pleaded guilty to the charge on Friday.
The judge, however, gave Ismail Mustapha the fine option of N50,000, saying that the convict was a first-time offender.
Shagari warned the convict against indulging in such illicit business after serving his jail term, assuring that the court would not be lenient on him if found guilty next time.
Justice Shagari ordered the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency to destroy the hemp in the presence of the chief registrar of the court.
Mustapha was arraigned by the NDLEA on one count of possession of illicit drugs by the NDLEA prosecutor, Mr T. J. Atserhegh, who told the court that the convict was arrested by the NDLEA officials on 10th May 2023 with the substance.
The prosecutor tendered some documents in evidence as well as some remnants of the substance, saying that the offence contravened Section 11c of the NDLEA Act, Cap 30, Laws of the Federation, 2004.