Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, has accused the Federal Government of using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to “persecute” him and members of his cabinet for refusing to join the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Mohammed made the allegation, yesterday, while receiving an ambassadorial award for safety from the Institute of Safety Professionals in Nigeria.
Recall that on Tuesday, the EFCC arraigned Bauchi State Commissioner for Finance, Yakubu Adamu, over alleged N5.79 billion money laundering.
Adamu is accused of conspiring with Managing Director of I.S. Makayye Investment Resources Limited, Ishaku Mohammed Aliyu, and one Muntaka Duguri, both currently at large, to launder N4.65 billion between June and December 2023.
But Governor Mohammed expressed sadness that despite constitutional immunity, he is being named in the EFCC motion, which targets members of his cabinet.
“As a governor, someone who is the head of the opposition, my commissioner has been kept and will not be released by the EFCC,” he said.
“Even when I have immunity as a governor, my name was stupendously mentioned in a motion in a court of law in Nigeria: me, Bala Mohammed.
“I woke up to a notification where I was told I am being accused of terrorism. I don’t have to say anything. I don’t even have to go to the public court. But certainly, politics has become something in Nigeria.
“The APC-led federal government thinks they can use the courts and institutions of government, like the EFCC, to persecute and prosecute Nigerians who are not within their own party.”
Mohammed, who chairs the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum, said he would not bow to pressure allegedly being mounted on him through the prosecution of members of his administration to join the ruling party.
The governor said he had remained silent in the interest of peace and security but warned that he would no longer stay quiet if the federal government continued its actions.
“If they don’t stop, we are going to declare war. I assure you, we are not going to keep quiet any longer. I won’t allow anybody to criminalise me because I’m not in their party, and I refuse to join their party, and I will not join their party,” he said.
The post Why I’m being persecuted —Gov Mohammed appeared first on Vanguard News.
