A former Governor of Nasarawa State, Tanko Al-Makura, has reacted to the report of his arrest by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday.
He said he was not arrested but invited by the anti-graft agency, a statement by his chief press secretary, Danjuma Joseph, stated on Thursday.
Recall TheNewsGuru had earlierreported how the anti-graft agency took Mr Al-Makura and his wife into custody over corruption allegations on Wednesday.
Mr Al-Makura served as Governor of Nasarawa State between 2011 and 2019 before he was elected into the National Assembly as senator representing Nasarawa South Senatorial District.
EFCC has not disclosed the details of the allegations that led to the arrest of the couple who were reportedly still being interrogated at the time of this report.
Mr Al-Makura’s aide was contacted by PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday but said he was not aware of his principal’s arrest.
Mr Joseph, however, said in a statement on Thursday that Mr Al-Makura was only invited “to give his own side of the story to some petitions written against him.”
“He was invited to give his side of the story concerning some petitions against him,” Mr Joseph said, adding, “he personally reported to EFCC, where he met with the chairman and some officials of the anti-graft agency for a short period of time”.
The statement also quoted the former governor as saying of the news of his arrest, “The rumours surprised me and far as I am concerned, it is baseless.”
He added that EFCC had invited him before the Sallah break, but he informed them that he would appear after Sallah and they (EFCC) obliged.
He said he gave the agency all the “necessary answers” to the petitions sent against him.
“When I met with EFCC chairman, he told me there were petitions against me and they wanted to hear from me and my meeting with EFCC chairman wasn’t more than 10 minutes,” Mr Al-Makura was quoted as telling journalists.