Governor Abdulaziz Abubakar Yari of Zamfara State, who chairs the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, is alleged to be the governor from who detectives recovered N500 million diverted from the London-Paris Club refund, THEWILL has gathered from EFCC sources.
The Nation had reported an unidentified governor as directing that the cash be transferred to a mortgage bank where he was indebted to the tune of N800 million. The governor used the “cash-at-hand” to defray his debts with a waiver by the mortgage company.
But EFCC sources disclosed to the newspaper that “Of the N19billion, we discovered that a consultant brought by the North-West governor was paid N2.2billion. From the N2.2billion, the governor got N500million.
“He then instructed that the N500million be transferred to the mortgage bank where he had borrowed money to buy two properties in 2013 and was unable to pay. The debts accumulated to N800million but with N500million cash-at-hand, the governor renegotiated the debts and used the cash to defray his liabilities.”
The source was reported as saying that the mortgage bank decided to refund the N500million to the EFCC, adding “We have all the evidence of the recovery in our records”.
Nigeria’s state governors are notorious for corruption which often leaves their states impoverished while they fleece and waste scarce resources.
-TheWill