Anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has arrested and detained the immediate past governor of Taraba State, Mr. Dairus Ishaku.
The arrest of the former governor was allegedly on the grounds of a N27bn fraud he perpetrated during his 8-year tenure as the governor of Taraba State.
Sources at the EFCC confirmed to journalists in Abuja on Friday that the former governor was already in the custody of the agency and may be arraigned in court on Monday Or Tuesday.
“Yes, he’s in our custody right now. We have been investigating him covertly since he left as the State governor. There is a lot of financial malfeasance he perpetrated,” the source said.
The former Taraba governor is to be arraigned alongside Mr. Bello Yero who served as the Permanent Secretary of Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in the state during Ishaku’s administration.. The duo are accused of diverting public funds for personal use at different times during the 8-year tenure of Governor Ishaku.
The Punch newspaper reports that according to a court document marked CR/792/24, filed before a Federal Capital Territory High Court, the EFCC accused the duo of diverting the sum of N1,010,000,000 to their personal use between August 25, 2015, and March 21, 2016, in Abuja
The money according to the EFCC was part of the 2.5 per cent contingency funds belonging to the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Taraba State. Ishaku and Yero therefore, committed an offence contrary to Section 315 of the Penal Code A, Cap 532, Laws of the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria 2007 and punishable under the same section.
The former governor and his co-accused, according to the EFCC also diverted an aggregate sum of N1,138,082, 097.71 which formed part of the 2.5 per cent contingency fund belonging to the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs between July 2015 and May 2019.
They were further accused of diverting the sum of N761,301,000 the former governor allegedly used to pay off a loan his private company, Worthy Construction Limited. Earlier took from Zenith Bank Nigeria PLC.
Also, the former governor was also accused the sum of N650,686,369.99 between January 6, 2019, and April 29, 2021; N193,030,000 between January 2019 and April 29, 2021; and N170,549,842.00 between January 6, 2019, and April 29, 2021, among others
Part of the charge sheet reads:
“That you Ishaku whilst being the Governor of Taraba State and Bello Yero whilst being the Permanent Secretary, Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Taraba State between July 19, 2019 and February 5, 2021 in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, and in such capacity entrusted with dominion over certain property, to wit: an aggregate sum of N3,348,942,411.15, which sum formed part of the funds belonging to Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Taraba State and Local Government Councils in Taraba State, and you thereby committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the said property, when you dishonestly diverted the said sum to your own use.”