Shehu Sani, a former senator who represented Kaduna Central in the last Senate, has on Tuesday, December 31, 2019, been arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Sani was arrested for allegedly collecting money in the name of the EFCC acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu, sources told Premium Times.
A source familiar with the arrest told our reporter that Sani was outed following a leak that he collected money from a popular Kaduna businessman to give Magu.
Following a conflict between him and his former in-law, a famous Kaduna car dealer, Sani Dauda, was said to have been approached by Sani to help him get EFCC to dig up alleged crimes of his estranged in-law.
A top source at the EFCC, who asked for anonymity as he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said Sani collected $20,000 from Dauda.
But a source in Kaduna said Sani returned the money to Dauda after the deal leaked and the businessman was invited by EFCC to make a statement.
According to the EFCC source, Sani tried hard to evade invitation and arrest by EFCC operatives as he switched off his known telephone lines for days.
“He was later tracked down to a location in Abuja and was picked up about an hour ago,” he said.
The EFCC official, however, said operatives would now investigate if Sani had been using Mr Magu’s name in this way, or if this was an isolated case.
None of the sources was willing to speak on the record and the online newspaper has not been able to independently confirm the allegations, beyond the fact that he has been arrested.
Wilson Uwajaren, the spokesman of EFCC, said he had no information on Sani’s arrest.
Repeated calls to Sani’s phone Tuesday afternoon were not answered.
