Officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Monday, June 6, arrested two former ministers in Maiduguri, Borno State capital.
The former ministers, whose names were given as Mohammed Wakil, a former Minister of Power and Alhaji Abdu Bulama, a former Minister of Science and Technology, are currently in the commission’s custody.
An official of the EFCC, who is part of the ongoing investigation said the ex-ministers were apprehended in connection with the ongoing investigation into the $115 million allegedly spent during last year’s presidential election by Diezani Alison-Madueke, former Minister of Petroleum.
The source said the suspects were Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign coordinators for Borno and Yobe state respectively. The source said, Bulama admitted he collected N450 million from a former Finance Minister, Nenadi Usman, for mobilization during the election in the state.
“Former Minister of Finance Nenadi Usman called and informed me to go and collect money in Fidelity Bank. A five-man committee was set up to coordinates the campaign activities in Yobe State, and we received N450m. The money was disbursed based on a template we received from Abuja and we shared it among the three senatorial zones in the state,” Bulama said.
His counterpart, Wakil, who coordinated the exercise in Borno, also admitted he collected the sum of N450 million.
“I received a call from Nenadi Usman, former Minister of Finance, that N450m was sent to Fidelity Bank and a template for how the disbursement of the funds will be conducted,” Wakil said.
