EFCC short of scapegoats in NASS ―Governors’ forum

THE Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of coming after its chairman and Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, because the anti-graft body was short of scapegoats in the National Assembly.

In a statement issued by the spokesman of the forum, Abdulzaraque Barkindo in Abuja on Wednesday, it called on EFCC to desist from its shadow boxing and leave the governor alone to face his job.

It argued that the NGF boss had consistently explained that he did not own a plot of land in Lagos or intended to build a hotel in the city as had been alleged.

The statement added: “Yari had denied any links with a $3million hotel in Lagos which some online media attributed to him and in fact sued the publications responsible for that insidious report for libel.

“But for want of scapegoats in its battle against the National Assembly, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission continues to drag the governor’s name in the mud in a veiled effort to divert attention from the matters of the moment.

“The NGF therefore urges the public to note that this is not about any missing funds anymore as the NGF would like to categorically emphasize that it did not, at any material time, receive any funds from the Paris London refunds on behalf of any states.”

The NGF reiterated that it did not handle the London-Paris Club refund to the states but only the money due to the consortium involved in the negotiations.

According to the statement, “All states funds were remitted to them directly from the federation accounts by the Ministry of Finance.

“What the NGF received, it must be repeated here, was monies due to the consortium of consultants who verified the amounts due to all the states that were owed.

“Furthermore, the NGF would like to state that its involvement with the Paris-London Club refunds had saved the states colossal amounts of money individually and collectively because instead of the high percentages agreed upon by the individual states to their separate consultants, the NGF drew the percentages down to 2% which was paid to the consortium.

“Before then states had agreed to pay consultants between 10 and 30 % as commission for recovering the over-deductions.

“It is however understandable that in the absence of a fall guy, the EFCC has consistently maligned the person of the Zamfara State governor and Chairman of the NGF, Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar, even when the need to so do was untenable, ridiculous and absent.

“The NGF is asking the commanding heights of the EFCC to instead look elsewhere for its real or imagined enemies and allow Yari Abubakar to face enormous task of governing his state and leading the governors of Nigeria.”