![[JUST IN] Mohbad: Police declare Primeboy wanted](https://newspeakspaces.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/04152516/image-75x75.png)
>
Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has denied declaring the immediate past governor of Zamfara State, Bello Mattawale wanted.
A media outfit had reported that the antigraft agency had declared Matawalle wanted over alleged N70 billion fraud.
But a statement issued on Sunday by the commission’s Head of Media & Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, said EFCC never asked the Department of State Services (DSS) to arrest the former governor, stressing that it will only follow the standard procedure in the case of the former governor.
“The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to a report, entitled, Alleged N70b Fraud: EFCC Declares Ex-Zamfara Gov, Matawalle Wanted, which appeared in the Sunday Tribune of June 18, 2023, and purports that the Commission had declared a former Zamfara State governor, Bello Matawalle wanted and requested the Department of State Services, DSS, to arrest him, anywhere he is seen.
“Without prejudice to the case involving the former governor, the report is incorrect as the Commission has yet to declare Matawalle wanted or solicit the assistance of any Agency, including the DSS, to effect his arrest.”
“The Commission noted that it has a standard procedure for declaring persons wanted and communicating the same to the public, not through faceless security sources,” Uwujaren said.
This development is a new twist in the ongoing rift between the antigraft agency and the former governor.
EFCC had earlier said it was investigating Matawalle over allegations of corruption, award of phantom contracts, and diversion of over N70 billion.
However, Matawalle had accused the suspended EFCC chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, of demanding a $2 million bribe from him, an allegation that the antigraft agency denied.
