Layi Olanrewaju, Ilorin
The Ilorin Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) disclosed on Wednesday that it has recovered an additional N70 million in stolen state funds for the Kwara State Government, as part of the Commission’s ongoing efforts to trace and retrieve monies embezzled by corrupt government officials.
The Commission had on October 11 handed over the sum of N112 million it had recovered to the Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq, in Ilorin.
Speaking as a guest on the NTA Ilorin programme, “Morning Safari’, EFCC Zonal Head Mr Isyaku Sharu said the N70 million was recovered in the ongoing investigations into the spending of the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS).
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According to him: “We beam our search lights on political office holders, civil servants and internet fraudsters. You remember recently we handed over about N112 million cash recovered to his Excellency, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq, the Executive Governor of Kwara State. But I can tell you that during our ongoing investigations into the spending of KWIRS, we recovered an additional N70 million.
“We came on the eve of 2019 general elections; we embarked on anti-vote buying; our role in the election made the exercise to be free, fair and credible. We discovered that about N1 billion was diverted by some government officials. We investigated it and saved the state’s resources.”
Speaking on other achievements of the zone, Sharu said: “As it is today, we have 44 convictions in Ilorin Zonal Office; 42 of them were prosecuted on offences that border on internet fraud and other fraud-related offences. We must join hands to fight the menace of internet fraud because it affects our image as a country.
“Parents, traditional rulers and religious leaders must play their roles in the fight against corruption,” the EFCC official added.
He made a further appeal to the people of Kwara, Kogi and Ekiti states to continue to partner with the anti-graft commission by giving relevant information that would assist it in its duties.