EFCC Spreads Dragnet for Nyako, Son

Former Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, has been declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC).

Also declared wanted by the EFCC is Nyako’s son, Abdul Aziz, a retired naval officer.

According to EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, “Both are wanted for criminal conspiracy, stealing, abuse of office and money laundering.”

The former governor’s was impeached last year by the state House of Assembly following allegations of gross misconduct and abuse of office.

Since then, Nyako’s whereabouts have been unknown for fear of imminent arrest by the anti-graft agency.

Nyako’s decision to decamp to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) was said to have triggered his impeachment.

It is not certain if his son is in the country, but the EFCC was said to have beamed its searchlight on the state and other possible locations where he could be hiding.
However, reacting to the statement by EFCC declaring him wanted, the embattled former governor informed online news website, Premium Times, that the latest ambush on him by the commission were the last kicks of a dying horse, saying President Goodluck Jonathan will soon be kicked out of office.

Nyako, who spoke through his media assistant, Ahmed Sajoh, also noted that the Jonathan administration was intimidated by the soaring support he (Nyako) has continued to get even after he left office.

“I am not aware of being declared wanted. But that is good. “If you are wanted by a rouge system, it means you are a good person. Has this government gone after anybody that is bad? They only run after the good people and allow the bad people to roam around them, live happily and enjoy whatever bad things they are doing,” he said.

Nyako said he was not surprised at the latest action of the EFCC, adding that many more Nigerians will be declared wanted by the government.

He argued that the government has been intimidated by the mammoth crowd that turned out for APC rally in Yola, the state capital.

According to him, the Jonathan government was afraid and even though he (Nyako) is no longer in office, the people of Adamawa still love and support him.
He drew attention to how the crowd went wild dancing when one of the songs eulogising the former governor was played at the APC rally in Yola, saying no amount of blackmail can stop the people from loving Nyako.

“When the time comes for them to be declared wanted nobody will sympathise with them,” he informed Premium Times.

The EFCC had in June 2014, shortly before the former governor was impeached, frozen the bank accounts belonging to the state in what it then called a precautionary measure to safeguard the state treasury amidst evidence of looting uncovered by its operatives.

The commission had alleged massive looting of the treasury by top officials of the state government under Nyako, a development that at the time led to the arrest and questioning of key officials, including then Secretary to the state Government, the then state Commissioner for Finance, former Commissioner for Higher Education, former Accountant General of the state and ex-Permanent Secretary, Ministry for Local Government.

The EFCC said its investigation was triggered by petitions alleging massive looting of the treasury by the governor and his cronies through an illegal department called Special Programme and Project Units (SPPU) which engaged in over invoicing and inflation of contract.

“In the course of investigation, a critical analysis of the Joint State/Local Government account revealed massive cash withdrawals,” a source at the commission said at the time.

ThisDay, February 05, 2015

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now