YOUNG APC MEMBERS CALL FOR EFCC TO REVIVE MATAWALLE CORRUPTION PROBE
The All Progressives Congress Young Leaders Alliance (APC-YLA) staged a protest at the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Abuja, demanding the revival of a stalled investigation into serious corruption allegations against the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Mohammed Matawalle. Speaking to journalists after submitting a protest letter to the EFCC’s Director of Security, Idowu Adedeji, the group’s convener, Muhammad Isah, warned that the Commission risks losing public confidence if it continues to ignore mounting petitions.
Matawalle, a former governor of Zamfara State, was the subject of a high-profile probe first announced in May 2023 by the EFCC’s then-spokesperson Osita Nwajah. At the time, the Commission accused him of diverting over N70 billion in public funds through fake contracts and proxies. The funds, according to investigators, had been sourced as loans from an old-generation bank to finance local government projects but were instead funneled into private hands.
Despite multiple petitions—including one submitted by the APC Akida Forum last May and another in September—the EFCC has remained largely silent on the matter since Matawalle’s appointment into President Tinubu’s cabinet. The APC-YLA insists that such silence undermines the agency’s claim to neutrality and accountability, especially under a government that campaigned on an anti-corruption platform.
