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Under the guise of the Young Leaders Alliance, or YLA, a faction of the ruling All Progressives Congress stormed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) Abuja headquarters on Friday, calling for the prompt reopening of investigations into allegations of corruption involving Minister of State for Defense Bello Matawalle.

The group, which calls itself a Kaduna-based socio-political pressure group, said the EFCC has been silent on the subject in spite of several requests and previous promises to look into the former Zamfara governor.

In a letter turned in during the demonstration, the group questioned why, in spite of allegations of financial impropriety from 2019 to 2023, Matawalle has not been prosecuted by the anti-graft agency.

“We write to formally request that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to reopen the investigation into allegations of corruption against Bello Mohammed Matawalle, Minister of State for defence,” the group said.

When Matawalle stated in a recent live television appearance that his administration did not receive nearly N70 billion over its four-year tenure, it accused him of deceiving the public.

The group alleges that the minister’s public assertion is clearly at odds with official documents and financial accounts from the time period.

Mohammed Ireyi, the group’s spokesperson, told reporters that the EFCC’s selective quiet on the subject calls into question the agency’s impartiality.

“If former governors and ministers like Betta Edu, Yahaya Bello and Darius Ishaku have been investigated or arrested, why is Matawalle being shielded? Who is stopping the EFCC from doing its job,” he asked.

The organization also quoted a May 2023 statement by the EFCC’s then spokeswoman, Osita Nwajah, who acknowledged that the commission was probing Matawalle over “monumental corruption, award of phantom contracts and diversion of over N70 billion”.

It, therefore, urged the commission to resume the probe to “uphold its credibility and neutrality in the fight against corruption in Nigeria”.

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