Nigeria’s anti-graft commission, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday grilled the embattled National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ali Modu Sheriff, for about seven and a half hours over the N40 million campaign fund he received for former President Goodluck Jonathan’s reelection bid. Sheriff, as reported on Wednesday, was invited by the EFCC to appear before its operatives at its Maiduguri, Borno State office. He was said to have arrived at the office at about 10am.
He was only released on administrative bail at about 5:30pm after he agreed to refund the N40 million he was given for the election. The money was part of the $115 million released by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Deziani Alison-Madueke, through Fidelity Bank Plc, to major actors in the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission for the reelection bid of Jonathan.
The money was said to have been converted to Naira by the now sacked Managing Director/CEO of Fidelity Bank, Nnamdi Okonkwo. It came to about N23.3 billion at the time. The money was given to Sheriff by Mohammed Wakil, who received N450 million on behalf of the PDP in Borno State.
A statement by the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the development. Uwujaren said in the statement:
“A former governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Shariff, was grilled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC Maiduguri zonal office on Wednesday for his involvement in sharing the sum of N40m. Investigation is ongoing as Shariff is answering questions in the EFCC office at the time of writing this report.”