We have yet to declare Matawalle wanted – EFCC

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, said it had yet to declare former Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle, wanted.

The EFCC made the clarifications in a statement issued on Sunday.

A few days to the end of his tenure, Matawalle had accused the now suspended EFCC chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, of demanding a $2m bribe from him.

Matawalle, in an interview with BBC, also rapped the EFCC for going after governors while ignoring federal officials with big budgetary allocations.

The EFCC said on Sunday that it was investigating Matawalle for allegedly siphoning state funds running to N70 billion through unexecuted contracts awarded to his cronies and for which money was received.

The Zamfara State governor, Dauda Lawal, also accused Matawalle of stealing official vehicles from the Government House before handing over the state’s leadership to him.

The governor said his predecessor sold all the official vehicles, refrigerators, television sets and other items in the Government House.

EFCC in the statement noted that despite all the allegations, the former governor had yet to be declared wanted.

Read the statement: “The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to a report, entitled, Alleged N70b Fraud: EFCC Declares Ex-Zamfara Gov, Matawalle Wanted, which appeared in the Sunday Tribune of June 18, 2023 and purports that the Commission had declared a former Zamafara State governor, Bello Matawalle wanted and requested the Department of State Service, DSS, to arrest him, “anywhere he is seen”.

“Without prejudice to the case involving the former governor, the report is incorrect as the Commission has yet to declare Matawalle wanted or solicit the assistance of any Agency, including the DSS, to effect his arrest.

“The Commission has standard procedure for declaring persons wanted and communicating same to the public, not through faceless “security sources”.