By Samuel Ogundipe
Ibrahim
Shema, the immediate past governor of Katsina State, who was declared
wanted on Wednesday for alleged fraud, has turned himself him to the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, his spokesperson told PREMIUM
TIMES Friday.
Oluwabusola Olawale
said Mr. Shema arrived at the EFCC headquarters around 9:30 a.m.
Friday, two days after he was declared wanted by the anti-graft agency.
It is not
immediately clear if Mr. Shema turned himself in to authorities in
company of his lawyers, but Mr. Olawale said his principal took the step
because "he's a law abiding citizen who has absolutely nothing to
fear."
Mr. Shema "went to
submit himself to the EFCC even though the agency has not been fair to
him in handling his case," Mr. Olawale said.
The ex-governor was
declared wanted on Thursday night amid allegations that he committed
offenses such as "criminal conspiracy, inflation of contract, abuse of
office, diversion of funds and embezzlement running into billions of
naira".
The EFCC said the
former governor, a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party,
was declared wanted after efforts to get him to respond to the
allegations through invitations by the EFCC failed.
An EFCC source, who
spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Mr. Shema allegedly diverted
about N18 billion from government coffers into his private accounts for
undisclosed reasons.
The officials said
Mr. Shema further raided local governments monthly allocation accounts
which were being jointly run with the state government, leaving little
for developmental projects and clearance of local government employees'
wages and salaries. A sum of N50 billion is believed to have been
mismanaged this way.
But Mr. Olawale
denied the graft charges and said his principal had on June 28 visited
the EFCC office and "he was told to come back later because the
officials in charge were on other assignment."
"After that, he
also wrote them through his lawyers for a new date but they didn't
respond," Mr. Olawale said. "We also took letters to their office which
they declined to collect."
"All these are
politically-motivated attacks aimed at rubbishing a man who served the
people of Katsina well throughout his tenure," Mr. Olawale said. "He
didn't only clear all the state's debts, he also left a robust treasury
for the incoming government."
The EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, did not immediately respond to PREMIUM TIMES' enquiries about the latest development.
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