The real person of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa appears to have been unmasked by the governor of Zamfara State , Bello Mattawella, who alleged that the anti-corruption czar openly demanded for a bribe of two million dollars to stop his probe for alleged fraudulent activities while in the office
By Miracle Egbo
Indeed there are many controversies as well as the law of ‘diminishing returns’ which has overwhelmed the administration of Abdulrasheed Bawa as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. At the outset, Bawa was fingered to have developed soft spot for some perceived corrupt politicians. At a time grapevine was rife that the Chairman of EFCC was too protective of the President-elect, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu who was alleged to be involved in many financial infractions as the defacto governor of Lagos State for years. Then, Bawa was the Head of the Lagos office of the anti-corruption agency but allegedly sat on the file that allegedly indicted Tinubu. Even when he was elevated as the Chairman of the agency, the wag in town was that he might use the file to shine but never did. The political traducers of Tinubu who drew the attention of Bawa to the dirty files of the political godfather of Lagos politics, wanted him to act on the files without hesitation, but he feigned technicalities of the law as the reason he abandoned action in the case of Tinubu. Bawa’s thermometer was allowed to cool down the insinuation that he did not want to arrest or probe anybody without due diligence, that implied due diligence created cult for him as he received accolades for being thorough in the discharge of his duty as the Chairman of the anti-corruption agency. He was riding on the wing of popularity when the reggae he danced in the secret was about to spoil the blues that he is currently enjoying.
How did his current trouble start? Bawa’s downfall started when he took his family to Hajj in far away Saudi Arabia in 2023 and decided to be expensive. Information at the disposal of this medium revealed that he lodged his family in an exotic hotel, and lived like rookie in yahoo yahoo clime. Tongues wagged as to how his salary as the Chairman of the ant-graft agency could afford him that exotic life if his fingers were not itchy. It was gathered that even his subordinates began to grumble as to why the face of the anti-graft agency could be seen to be exhibiting tendencies of corruption that he is meant to tame to its barest minimum in the country. Disappointment, to say the least, according to an insider, was the lot of many staffers who had knowledge of his profligacy at the hajj he went with his family.
Information scooped by Tentacle revealed that Bawa was able to explain away his wasteful disposition at Mecca to bold staffers who cared to ask why he was not circumspect in his spending culture when he was away on hajj, adding that his traducers merely exaggerated what transpired. The controversy generated by his hajj extravagance was simmering down when attempt was made by the agency under his watch to embark on the probe of some of the outgoing governors. It was alleged that some of the governors who were on the watch-list of the EFCC decided to keep vigil but the governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle does not speak the language of vigil, and he decided to spill the beans. When the anti-graft agency went to town with the financial infractions of Mattawalle, adding that the outgoing governor is accused of embezzling 70 billion from the coffers of Zamfara State, that allegation irked Mattawalle. The expose of the anti-graft agency concerning the governor of Zamfara got the goat of the outgoing governor. Mattawalle decided to sing, at the wake of his rendition he exposed the secret discussion he had with Bawa in a comfort atmosphere of a hotel at the alleged instance of the Chairman of the EFCC. According to the governor of Zamfara, Bawa in the course of their discussion revealed that other governors have been paying homage but Mattawalle allegedly declined to do like his colleague-governors who appreciated his agency so that the agency would look the other way even if they were found culpable in financial infractions. Mattawalle alleged that Bawa demanded for a bribe of two million dollars to enable the agency get off his back. The embattled governor declined the gesture and went to town with the revelation, adding that Bawa told him in confidence that his colleagues have been complying in this regard, he should be ready to dance to the music since he is proving difficult. Mattawalle revealed that he told Bawa that he was not going to bribe for a crime he never committed, insisting that the Chairman of EFCC who is corrupt is not suppose to be chairing a sensitive agency like EFCC.
Matawalle waxed lyrical when he enthused: “It is not just to always blame governors. It is not only governors who have treasury, the Federal Government also has. What does the EFCC boss do to them? As he is claiming he has evidence on governments, let him show to the world the evidence of those at the Federal level.
“If he (Bawa) exits office, people will surely know he is not an honest person. I have evidence against him. He requested a bribe of two million dollars from me and I have evidence of this. He knows the house we met, he invited me and told me the conditions. He told me that governors were going to his office but I did not . If I don’t have evidence I won’t say this”.
An informed EFCC insider told this medium that Mattawalle is talking like a broken record because he has no verifiable evidence to prove that Bawa demanded bribe from him to get off his back. The insider said that the outgoing governor of Zamfara State left what he should be explaining to the populace to chase shadow, insisting that the embattled governor has not been able to explain to the people of Nigeria and Zamfara in particular how he spent N70 billion naira, the common patrimony of the latter. According to source, it is not only the N70 billion that Mattawalle is being probed for, there are findings which indicate that his itchy fingers have inflicted serious injury on the coffers of the state he governed for four years.
Information has it that Matawalle would be arrested on the eve of May 29, 2023 to stall his evasion of arrest or disappearing to foreign country. It was gathered that the goons of the agency are likely going to lay ambush for him both in the government house and his private home so as to make him answer the question of infractions that is hanging on his neck. Sources said that Mattawalle is making every frantic effort to make sure that the ant-graft agency did not succeed in its plot to affect his arrest now or in the future, an effort, EFCC’s analysts said is an effort in futility on the part of the outgoing governor.
Survival might be an elusive commodity for Bawa if the allegation of the governor of Zamfara is anything to go by. According to sources, the allegation against the EFCC Chairman is too putrid to be ignored, coming from somebody who is drowning politically. The mood of the successor of President Muhammadu Buhari is going to determine the fate of Bawa as his battle for his innocence and retention of his job as the chairman of the anti-graft agency.
