Bafarawa to be arraigned in Sokoto today – Daily Trust
December 16, 2009 by Bunmi Awolusi
Former Sokoto State governor Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa is to be arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] before the Federal High Court in Sokoto today, sources close to him told Daily Trust last night.
The former governor’s aides alleged that the EFCC was planning to move Bafarawa from Abuja to Sokoto by road, through the night, in time for this morning’s arraignment. EFCC’s spokesman Femi Babafemi confirmed that Bafarawa will be arraigned today, but he refused to disclose the location of the arraignment.
Bafarawa was arrested by EFCC agents last week as he left a meeting of the Mega Summit Movement at the Sheraton Hotel in Abuja. The commission later said he was accused of misappropriating up to N20 billion from the Sokoto State Government’s coffers when he was governor in 1999-2007. Subsequently, EFCC agents raided Sokoto and arrested several former officials of his regime. Among those arrested were former Finance Commissioner Hajiya Aishatu Binji, former Water Resources Commissioner Alhaji Isa Achida and Salihu Bakwai, former chairman of education resuscitation committee in the Bafarawa administration. Also arrested were Alhaji Sambo Bello, former permanent secretary, Ministry of Local Government Affairs; Adamu Gurori, director of finance in the same ministry and Alhaji Salihu Maibuhu Gumi, a contractor and friend of the former governor.
