Armed security personnel raided two (2) houses belonging to the immediate former Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle on Friday where over 40 government vehicles were allegedly recovered. This was made known in a statement issued on Friday by Suleiman Idris, the spokesperson of the current Governor, Dauda Lawal which stated that the raid was backed by a court order and search warrant.
The Senate has passed a Bill to amend the Independent Corrupt Practice and other related Offences, ICPC, ACT, on 30th May 2023. About 70 clauses were tampered with by the lawmakers, “Committee of the whole” leaving the public with sketchy ideas over what exactly was amended. The Senate amended section 25 of the Act, which speaks about the commission's powers to imprison writers of false petitions for up to a period of two years without an option of fine.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has alerted the general public of the alleged move by some governors and other politicians accused of corruption to flee the country ahead of the May 29 handover. EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren raised the alarm in a statement issued on Friday night.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it is currently probing Zamfara State governor, Bello Matawalle, for “N70bn fraud”. The anti-graft agency also confirmed that a former Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, who was recently arrested by the operatives of the commission over alleged N22bn fraud, is still in detention. Speaking at a media briefing in Abuja, Director of Public Affairs, EFCC, Osita Nwajah, said Matawalle was under investigation by the anti-graft agency over “allegation of monumental corruption, award of phantom contracts and diversion of over N70 billion” from the coffers of the state. Nwajah said the money, which was sourced as loan from an old generation bank, purportedly, for the execution of projects across the local government areas of the state, was, allegedly, diverted by the governor through proxies and contractors, who received payment for contracts that were never executed.
The Federal Capital Territory Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), on Thursday, revealed that it arrested 34 suspects during its raids on illicit drug dens in the territory. The agency’s FCT Commander, Kabir Tsakuwa, disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Abuja. Tsakuwa said that the operation was necessitated due to the urgent need to combat drug abuse, especially as Nigeria prepares for handover to a new administration. He explained that the command initiated “Operation Tsaro” on May 8, to shut down drug centres and apprehend dealers in the FCT
The commander said the operatives successfully confiscated variety of illicit substances, including Cannabis Sativa, Methamphetamine, Tramadol, Codeine, Rohypnol, and other psychotropic substances.
The Department of State Services (DSS), alongside other sister agencies which included personnel from the Nigerian Police, and the Military have been able to raid a terrorist cell located at the Kaduna Millennium City, Chikun local government area of Kaduna State. According to reports, in the early hours of Monday 16th May 2023, the security operatives trailed a suspected Boko Haram suicide bomber to his place of cover, however, the bomber blew himself up with an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), to avoid being arrested.
