The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested former Governor Abdulaziz Yari in connection with the agency’s ongoing investigation of the suspended Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris.
Mr Yari, a former governor of Zamfara State, was arrested on Sunday at his residence in Abuja days after he won the ruling APC’s ticket for Zamfara West senatorial election holding next year. He won unopposed.
The AGF under criminal investigation, Mr Idris, has been in the EFCC custody since May 16 facing investigators over allegations of corruption to the tune of N80 billion.
Investigators are working with the lead that he allegedly conspired with others to steal public funds which, by his role, he was meant to safeguard.
One of his suspected accomplices is Mr Yari, who was arrested today, EFCC sources told PREMIUM TIMES.
According to the sources, suspicious transactions between Mr Idris and Mr Yari were “in the area of 20 billion Naira”.
Mr Yari is not new to anti-graft law enforcement actions. Last year, he was repeatedly held and questioned by the EFCC over allegations he criminally diverted billions in Zamfara’s funds kept in a bank.
Mr Yari was governor of Zamfara State, an impoverished Nigeria’s northwestern state, between 2007 and 2019. Under his reign, terrorist outlaws, commonly called bandits, started ravaging communities.
A state report commissioned by Mr Yari’s successor Bello Matawalle indicted him (Mr Yari) for mismanaging the ethnic conflict between Hausa and Fulani communities, leading to the armed banditry that is ravaging the Nigeria’s north-west geopolitical zone and beyond.
