RELEASE OF FORMER MILITARY ADMINISTRATOR JAFARU ISA BY EFCC ALLEGEDLY ATTRIBUTED TO HIS RETURN OF N100 MILLION BUT QUESTIONS ARISE

BRIG. GEN. JAFARU ISA (RTD.)

There have been questions raised about the quick release from detention by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of Brigadier General Jafaru Isa, Rtd., onetime military administrator of Kaduna State, party chief of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) and alleged acolyte of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Brig. Gen. Isa was arrested in Abuja by the EFCC on Wednesday on the allegation that he collected N170 million from the country’s former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki in the ongoing investigation of the illegal dispensing of funds meant for the acquisition of military equipment for use by the Nigerian armed forces in its fight against the Boko Haram Islamist extremists.

However, in a bid to put reason to the action taken by the EFCC, an unnamed source has been reported to have said that Brig. Gen. Isa was interrogated for some hours and eventually released when he made a refund of N100 million out of the N170 million he allegedly received to the EFCC with a promise to return the balance of N70 million in a short while.

The source also states that all involved in the transaction now under investigation were given the opportunity to return the sums they collected where they claimed they did not know the money received was public funds.

It would be recalled that the Peoples Democratic Party in a statement by its National Legal Adviser, Victor Kwon had taken the EFCC to task on its release of Brig. Gen. Isa just about eight hours after his arrest while it continued to detain its spokesperson, Olisa Metuh. It cited the action as selective holding that Metuh’s plight was as a result of his stance against the government and the APC’s ‘dictatorial activities’.

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The PDP statement said “the release of Jafaru Isa, a known associate of the President and chieftain of the APC eight hours after his arrest while our spokesman remains in detention even when the two are being investigated over the same allegation clearly shows that the President Buhari-led APC government is not fighting corruption but using the much hyped crusade as a cover to persecute PDP leaders and decimate the opposition, a project the EFCC has clearly yielded itself as a willing tool.”

The matter continues, Nigerians watch and make their conclusion on the fairness or otherwise of the actions being taken.