How the Governor of Zamfara allegedly laundered public funds through cash withdrawals

Recently, agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) discovered billions of naira in cash hidden in various homes of some incumbent state governors. Three governors namely Mr. Mohammed Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State, Mr. Nyesom Wike (Rivers) and Mr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje (Kano) have been singled out as the suspected culprits. The anti-corruption agency said it was closely monitoring suspicious cash hoards, pointing out that intelligence reports available to it regarding their storage of billions of naira in various houses in the national capital and other cities. 'other cities seem indisputable.

EFCC Chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa has since confirmed that three incumbent state governors are under scrutiny for their alleged attempts to launder billions of hidden naira by paying salaries to workers. He also said last week that the number of governors on the EFCC's watch list had increased.

The governors' desperate decision to release these hidden funds may not be unrelated to the recent announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of the federal government's decision to rethink the higher denominations of banknotes in naira.

An independent investigation by the Zamfara Alternative Forum has revealed how the Zamfara State All Progressives Congress (APC) administration headed by Governor Bello Matawall has resorted to a shady practice of withdrawing huge sums of cash from the public treasury.

It has further been revealed how billions in cash have been withdrawn from accounts linked to the Zamfara State government. The accounts are: Zamfara State Executive Governor's Office UBA Account Number 101xxxx657, Zamfara State Zenith VAT Bank Account Number 101xxxx255, Zamfara State FAAC UBA Account Number 100xxxx140 and Zamfara State Fidelity ISPO Excess Bond Bank account number 503xxxx649.

Other accounts include the Accountant Gen. (Inc.) Education Levy Zenith Bank Account number 101xxxx730, Permanent Secretary Government House Zenith Bank Account number 101xxxx551, Careers Special Services and Home Affairs Expenditure Directorate of Recruitment and Quota System Zenith Bank Account number 101xxxx564 and Zamfara State Accountant General Zenith Bank Account number 101xxxx572 .

Between May 2019 and August 13, 2020, there were several treasury and transfer transactions involving accounts deemed to have no socio-economic benefit to the state. The transactions were frequent fund transfers and subsequent cash withdrawals that obscured the true beneficiary of the funds.

Our source confirmed that an agency of the federal government forwarded a request to the Zamfara state government to explain the reasons for the frequent cash transactions. It was reported that most of the withdrawals were for state government administrative expenses.

Details of some questionable transactions and withdrawals from the eight listed accounts have been disclosed to us. However, for confidentiality reasons under financial rules and regulations, we will not disclose full details such as full account numbers and bank verification numbers (BVN).

Regarding the Zamfara State Executive Governor's Office UBA account number 101xxxx657, the signatories of the account at the time of the suspicious transactions were Kabiru Balarabe whose registered date of birth is March 15, 1966 linked to the phone number 0803xxx8306 and a Bank Verification Number (BVN) 222xxxxx440 and Bashir Salihu whose date of birth is 21 January 1975 linked to phone number 0806xxx5828 and bank verification number 223xxxxx372.

The two signers of Zamfara State UBA FAAC account number 100xxxx140 are Abubakar Bello Ruwan Dorawa with birth date June 12, 1960 linked to phone number 0706xxx6412 and BVN 221xxxxx685 and Aliyu Aminu Abubakar born March 4 1966 with telephone numbers 0806xxx3333 and BVN 221xxxxx919.

Zamfara TVA Zenith Bank account number 101xxxx255 also has two signatories as follows - Abubakar Bello Ruwan Dorawa, whose date of birth is June 12, linked with phone number 0706xxx6412 and BVN 221xxxxx685 with Aliyu Aminu Abubakar with a date of birth given on March 4, 1966 and linked to the telephone number 0806xxx3333 and BVN 221xxxxx919.