- Says: We're investigating allegations of economic and financial crimes against ex-governor
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Sunday evening raided the Talata-Mafara residence of the immediate past governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari.
Alhaji Ibrahim Dosara, the spokesman for the former governor, confirmed this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria in Talata Marafa on Monday.
Dosara said: “It is true that operatives of the EFCC were at the residence of His Excellency in Talata Mafara yesterday. My principal is aware of their coming and they were able to check all the rooms and offices and after several hours of searching, they left.
“This is the highest we can go because we do not know what they are looking for and we cannot preempt their investigation. But we are holding on to the issue for now, pending the outcome of their investigation.
“They are constituted authority and they have the right to investigate anybody. Until when they are out with the result of their investigation, we will not be able to go further. When they say something that requires our attention, then we can talk about it.”
An eyewitness told the news agency that EFCC operatives arrived the property situated off Sokoto Road in Talata-Mafara about 6 pm amidst tight security and blocked the front and back entrances of the residence.
People inside the building were prevented from leaving.
“These people remained inside until after 11 p.m. We were around waiting to see what will happen next only to see them with some bags that no one could tell what the content was.
“We also learnt that they were at the former governor’s brother’s house as well as that of one of his close associates where they were said to have carried away some things,” the witness claimed.
Meanwhile, the EFCC has said the raid had to do with allegations of economic and financial crimes against Yari.
EFCC’s acting spokesman, Tony Orilade, "We did visit the former governor’s residence in respect of an ongoing investigation. What we fight are economic and financial crimes. Whatever allegations we have should be centred around economic and financial crimes,” he said.