Allegation: You requested $2m bribe from me, I have evidence, Matawalle to EFCC Bawa

The rift  between Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State and chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has deepened.

The Gov alleged that Abdulrasheed Bawa  requested money from him “He requested a bribe of $2 million 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 governors were going to his office but I did not. If I don’t have evidence, I won’t say this.”

On Wednesday, Matawalle had called for Bawa’s resignation, saying he had questions to answer on corruption.

But in a swift reaction, the EFCC Chairman said he had nothing to hide and asked Matawalle to petition appropriate authorities if he had any evidence against him.

He also said that Matawalle was being probed over allegation of embezzling more than N70 billion.

But, in an interview with BBC Hausa, Matawalle insisted that Bawa could not be trusted.

“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 governors, let him show to the world evidence of those at the federal level.

“If he exits office, people will surely know he is not an honest person. I have evidence against him. Let him vacate office, I am telling you within 10 seconds probably more than 200 people will bring evidences of bribe he collected from them. He knows what he requested from me but I declined”.

Meanwhile, The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has dismissed the allegations by Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, that the agency was witch-hunting him for refusing to give its Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa $2m bribe.

The Spokesman for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement on Friday night urged the outgoing Zamfara governor to provide evidence to support his claim.

Uwujaren, in the statement, described the governor as a suspect under investigation who would not be given dignified attention.

He said, “The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has been drawn to a trending interview granted to the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, by Bello Muhammed Matawalle, governor of Zamfara State, where he allegedly made wild bribery allegations against the Executive Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa.

“Matawalle’s recourse to mudslinging is symptomatic of a drowning man clutching at straws. But despite the irritation of his phantom claims, the Commission will not be drawn into a mud fight with a suspect under its investigation for corruption and unconscionable pillage of the resources of his state.

“If Matawalle will be taken seriously, he should go beyond saber-rattling by spilling the beans – provide concrete evidence as proof of his allegations.

He also alerted the public about plans by some of the alleged corrupt politically exposed persons to flee the country ahead of May 29.