In a shocking turn of events, Mohammed Bello Matawalle, the governor of Zamfara State, responded to allegations of embezzlement by charging Abdulrasheed Bawa, the chairman of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), of corruption.
This discussion started as a result of an EFCC announcement that said the Governor was being looked into for allegedly embezzling more than 70 billion naira.
In return, Governor Matawalle questioned Bawa's character in a BBC interview and encouraged him to retire so that the corruption allegations against him could be thoroughly investigated.
"While investigations are not prohibited, they should be carried out fairly. Governor Matawalle asserted, "I am not the only one having a bank account.
Additionally, he pressed Bawa to provide any and all records he had about his coworkers.
Considering that he is also the subject of several accusations.
Matawalle identified prospective witnesses prepared to testify against the EFCC director while insisting on Bawa's resignation.
He made references to some unresolved issues between himself and Bawa, suggesting that Bawa is aware of the potential repercussions.
In response to these accusations, the EFCC urged Governor Matawalle to report any corruption evidence against Bawa to the police.
In response to a question from the BBC, Bawa made the philosophic claim that no one is perfect. He encouraged anyone who had a grievance against him, a governor, or a minister to contact the police.
"There are police and places where he can file a complaint," stated Bawa in reference to the governor. "If he [Governor Matawalle] sees that I have done something wrong, he can do so."
Bello Muhammad, also known as Bello Matawalle, is a Nigerian politician and educator who was born on February 12, 1969. As of 2019, he has been the governor of Zamfara State.
His first elected position was as a member of the House of Representatives for Bakura/Maradun in 2003. He held that position until 2015, first as a member of the All Nigeria Peoples Party before switching to the People's Democratic Party in 2011. He had previously served for a short time in the state house of assembly during the Abacha era and as a state commissioner during the Ahmad Sani Yerima administration in the Fourth Republic from 1999 to 2003. Matawalle became the PDP's candidate for governor in 2019 despite losing his Bakura/Maradun Constituency seat in 2015, and won the position following a Supreme Court decision.
a decision disqualified the initial victor. He joined the majority of the Zamfara State elected officials in a defection rally in Gusau in 2021, following which he left the PDP for the All Progressives Congress.
childhood and education
On February 12, 1969, Bello Muhammad was born in Maradun, which was then in the North-Western State. In 1979, he graduated from Maradun Township Primary School with a First School Leaving Certificate. 1984 saw his VTC Bunza graduation. He attended the Thames Valley University in London after graduating from the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos.
Electoral life
Before joining the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, he worked as an instructor at the Government Girls Colleges in Moriki and Kwatarkoshi. In 1998, Matawalle made his political debut by running for a seat in the house of assemblies. and won after leaving the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Abuja, and joining the defunct United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), which included politicians like Atiku Abubakar, Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila, Attahiru Bafarawa, Adamu Aliero, Suleiman Takuma, Ibrahim Kura Mohammed, Ibra, and Ambassador Isa Aliyu Mohammed Argungu (Sarkin Yakin Kabbi), a former Minister of Water Resources and National Chairman of
He held the positions of Zamfara State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Commissioner from 1999 and 2003. Commissioners for youth and sports are followed by those for the environment and rural development.
On the platform of the now-defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Matawalle was chosen by his Bakura/Maradun constituency to serve in the House of Representatives in May 2003.
Matawalle was re-elected in 2007 while still running on the ANPP platform, but he later switched to the PDP, and in 2011 he won a third term on that platform.
In comparison to Muktar Idris, the APC candidate, who received 534,541 votes, Matawalle received 189,452 votes in the March elections.
Muktar Idris first received the certificate of return; however, the Sokoto court of appeal ordered INEC to revoke the certificate.
Later, the Supreme Court ruled that the APC's electoral votes were valid. as a waste of time and directed that the second-place candidate be sworn in on Wednesday. This is due to the APC's failure to hold primary elections in Zamfara State for each candidate.
switching to APC
Matawalle disbanded his Executive Council on June 1, 2021, allegedly in advance of a planned party move to the APC on or around June 12.[6] Matawalle, on the other hand, disputed that the cabinet's dissolution was related to a change in parties and insisted that neither a decision nor a date had been determined.
On June 27, Bashir Ahmad, a personal media advisor to President Muhammadu Buhari, reported that Matawalle had joined the APC. Later, Ibrahim Dosara, a spokesman for Matawalle, acknowledged the change in parties, stating that Matawalle will publicly make the announcement.
on June 29, a defection.[8] At a rally in Gusau on June 29, Matawalle, all three senators from Zamfara, six of the seven representatives, and all 24 members of the house of assembly formally joined the APC; however, deputy governor Mahdi Aliyu Gusau and representative Kabiru Yahaya from Anka/Mafara stuck with the PDP. All party caretaker committees in Zamfara State were promptly disbanded by Mai Mala Buni, the governor of Yobe State and APC interim chairman, and Matawalle was named the party's leader in Zamfara.
Since February 24, 2021, Abdulrasheed Bawa, a Nigerian detective and law enforcement official, has led the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He was born on April 30, 1980 He took over for Umar Mohammed Abba, the commission's acting chairman.[2] Prior to being appointed, he served as the anti-graft agency's Deputy Chief Superintendent.
On February 16, 2021, Bawa was proposed as the EFCC's substantive Chairman. On February 24, 2021, the National Assembly confirmed him as the Executive Chairman,[ officially succeeding Mr. Ibrahim Magu, the previous acting Chairman of the Commission
early years
Abdulrasheed Bawa was born in Jega, Kebbi state, in 1980.
Education
He received his initial high school diploma from Model Primary School in Birnin-Kebbi. In 1991, he graduated from Government Secondary School in Owerri with his secondary school diploma. In 1991, he graduated from Road, Sokoto. Bawa obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Usmanu Danfodio University in Sokoto in 2001 [Needs citation] The same university awarded him a master's degree in international affairs and diplomacy in 2012. He is currently enrolled in the University of London's Bachelor of Laws program.[Needs citation
Career
In 2004, Abdulrasheed Bawa began working for the EFCC as an Assistant Detective Superintendent (ADS). He was chosen to lead the commission's inquiries into Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former minister of petroleum resources, and her accomplices in October 2015. He has participated in the prosecution of crimes such bank fraud, official corruption, advance fee fraud, money laundering, and others that are linked. Chairman who is the youngest of the EFCC so far. He received training from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States.
A theft claim
When Bawa was in charge of the Port Harcourt office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Peoples Gazette revealed in an exclusive report in September 2020 how he stole and sold dozens of petrol-bearing trucks that had been seized from suspected looters, auctioning them off to his proxies at exorbitant prices. According to the report, Ibrahim Magu, the commission's acting chairman at the time, arrested Bawa and held him in custody for a number of days. Bawa was then fired from his job in Port Harcourt and moved to the agency's Abuja training facility.
Before he was Following Magu's dismissal, a candidate was nominated to take over as Chairman of the EFCC. Civil society organizations denounced the nomination and urged the Nigerian Senate to reject it. Bawa refuted the accusation of selling confiscated assets in Port Harcourt at the Senate confirmation hearing.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) issued a statement on February 17, 2021, denying reports that Abdulrasheed Bawa, the Chairman-designate (now substantive), had been detained and arrested by the organization during the tenure of former Chairman Ibrahim Magu for the unauthorized sale of 244 forfeited trucks to proxies in Port Harcourt. The Commission further claimed that Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa was never held or arrested by Ibrahim Magu, the previous acting chairman of the Commission. The letter from the Spokesman of the "Mr. Bawa was never arrested or detained over the sale of any assets," according to commission Wilson Ewujaren. Bawa's duties as zonal head of the commission's Port Harcourt office in 2019 did not entail the sale of assets because the agency has a fully functional Directorate of Assets Forfeiture and Recovery Management, which is responsible for such affairs. For the avoidance of doubt, it said that Bawa's departure as the Zonal Head was the reason why trucks that had been finally forfeited in the Port Harcourt Zonal Office were sold at public auction. The EFCC insisted that it was absurd for him to have been charged with overseeing an auction when he had not.
investigated cases
While serving as the Portharcourt Zonal Office's EFCC zonal chief and He has successfully investigated and testified in the prosecution of numerous cases, resulting in convictions and the recovery of stolen money, according to the Lagos Zonal Office. From 2015 to 2019, he oversaw the investigations of Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, which resulted in the recovery of millions of dollars and valuable assets.
His appointment as the head of Nigeria's EFCC in 2021 propelled him to national prominence. That same year, he was named one of the country's "Under 50 Leaders in Public Service," along with other government appointees like Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad of the Rural Electrification Agency, Hadiza Bala Usman of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Elijah Onyeagba, Nigeria's ambassador to the republic of Burundi, and Aisha Sanusi Ohiare of the Rural Electrification Fund (REF), Ahmad Zakari, the President's Special Infrastructure Advisor, Mrs. Yewande Sadiku of the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission, and three other individuals under the age of 50.