The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Abuja yesterday interrogated a former Kano State Governor, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso for N10 billion fraud allegations.
Multiple sources disclosed this to THISDAY, saying the former governor turned himself in for interrogation at the office of the anti-graft commission in Abuja.
The former governor had been under investigation over a petition filed in 2015 by some workers and pensioners in the state who accused him of mismanaging pension remittances contributed between 2011 and 2015.
Some retirees had petitioned to the commission demanding the investigation and possible prosecution of the former governor.
One of the sources, who privately spoke with THISDAY yesterday, claimed that Kwankwaso was invited for allegedly diverting N10billion meant for the payment of pensions and construction of houses.
The source said: “The former governor and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) visited the EFCC office Saturday afternoon. Yes, he was here and was interrogated.”
“Kwankwaso came in response to questions on alleged fraud following a series of petitions that the EFCC received against him.
“He is being questioned over allegations of abuse of office, diversion of public funds and fraudulent allocation of government properties to cronies. Kwankwaso, who is also a chieftain of the PDP was first invited by the EFCC in September but failed to honour the invitation.
“In one of such petitions, the former governor was accused of diverting N10bn meant for the payment of pensions and construction of houses,” another source told THISDAY at the weekend.
The former governor, who is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is among those rumoured to be nursing a presidential ambition.
As at press time, it was unclear, if the former governor would be detained or granted administrative bail.
Kwankwaso spent a second term as governor of Kano from 2011 to 2015. In August, EFCC sealed off one of his properties in Kano.
The property was said to have been sealed off as a result of a petition sent to the anti-graft agency by some family members of Ismaila Gwarzo, a former national security adviser during the late Sani Abacha administration.
Abdullahi Gwarzo, former managing director of the defunct Refuse Management and Sanitation Board (REMASAB) in Kano, allegedly sold the property to Kwankwaso but failed to remit the money to Gwarzo’s family.
The state government had, earlier in the year, announced the scrapping of REMASAB and said a private company would be engaged for refuse management.
Several houses belonging to the former REMASAB MD, located in Gwarzo town, Danbare, Bompai, among others, were also sealed off by the anti-graft agency.
