TheCable

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) raided the Talata-Mafara residence of Abdulaziz Yari, former governor of Zamfara state, on Sunday evening.

Ibrahim Dosara, spokesman to the former governor, confirmed this in an interview with NAN.

“It is true that operatives of the EFCC were at the residence of His Excellency in Talata Mafara yesterday,” he said.

“My principal is aware of their coming and they were able to check all the rooms and offices and after several hours of searching, they left.

“This is the highest we can go because we do not know what they are looking for and we cannot preempt their investigation. But we are holding on to the issue for now, pending the outcome of their investigation.

“They are constituted authority and they have the right to investigate anybody. Until when they are out with the result of their investigation, we will not be able to go further. When they say something that requires our attention, then we can talk about it.”

A witness told NAN that the EFCC operatives arrived the house situated off Sokoto Road in Talata-Mafara around 6pm amid tight security and blocked the front and back entrances of the residence.

He said they ordered those inside to remain where they were while disallowing any further entry.

“These people remained inside until after 11pm We were around waiting to see what will happen next only to see them with some bags that no one could tell the contents,” he said.

“We also learnt that they were at the former governor’s brother’s house as well as that of one of his close associates where they were said to have carried away some things.”

In a reaction, the EFCC said the raid was over allegations of financial crimes against Yari.

Tony Orilade, EFCC’s acting spokesman, told NAN inAbuja on Monday that “we did visit the former governor’s residence in respect of ongoing investigation”.

“What we fight is economic and financial crimes. Whatever allegations we have should be centred around economic and financial crimes,” he said.