Nigeria confirms probe of outgoing senate president

The Nigerian government has confirmed that outgoing Senate President Bukola Saraki is under investigation by the country’s anti-graft body.

Ibrahim Magu, Head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), who made this known to reporters in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, said the ongoing investigation was not personal.

He described corruption as “a national disaster and mother of all evils”.

The EFCC had confirmed reports that it had opened a fresh investigation into Saraki’s stewardship as president of the senate as well as a probe of his earnings as governor of Kwara from 2003 to 2011.

In his reaction, Saraki insisted that the action of the EFCC was a witch-hunt.

“The action of the EFCC only reinforced our earlier stated position that their current investigation is mischievous, contrary to the tenets of the rule of law and only aimed at settling scores,” he said.

“The EFCC’s move to investigate him is a mere witch-hunt exercise, aimed at settling scores, laced with malicious and partisan motives,” Saraki’s spokesperson Yusuph Olaniyonu, said in a statement.

Source: GNA