My Arrest By EFCC Has No Political Undertone – Shekarau

A former Kano State governor who was accused of helping to distribute N950 million in the #Dasukigate scandal has said he is not being politically victimised.

Mr. Shekarau, a founding member of Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, decamped to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, few months to the 2015 elections.

He was recently arrested by the anti-graft agency, EFCC, amid allegations that he helped distribute N950 million to top Kano and other northern politicians in the build-up to the elections.

The money is believed to be part of the $2.1 billion arms fund allegedly mismanaged by the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki. Mr. Dasuki and some other officials of the previous administration are already being prosecuted for their roles in the scam popularly referred as #Dasukigate.

On Sunday, Mr. Shekarau, who also served as Education Minster under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, said his arrest and detention by the EFCC has no political undertone.

While addressing journalists at a news conference in Kano, he said “what happened to me could happen to anybody and it was only godly for me to accept my fate, good or bad.”

He, however, insisted that he was ready to spend the next 10 years in the Commission’s custody to prove his innocence.

“I am not suspecting any political undertone in my arrest but rather regard it as an act of God to test my faith.

“I was told that one of the beneficiaries of the N950 million in question implicated me; that I was given N25 million as my share of the money but could not state where, how and when.”

Mr. Shekarau, who thanked his supporters, said he was not suspecting anybody behind his ordeal.

The former minister was arrested by EFCC on Thursday in his house at Mundubawa, Kano metropolis.

He was alleged to have collected N25 million as his own share of the money and consequently quizzed by the Commission.

At Sunday’s conference, Mr. Shekarau did not explain his exact role in the distribution of the funds.