Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on Wednesday, January 8, 2020 searched the two houses and office of Shehu Sani, a former senator in Abuja.
The search, according to PUNCH was part of the ongoing probe of the former lawmaker for alleged extortion of $24,000 from the Chairman of ASD Motors, Alhaji Sani Dauda.
A senior official said the commission obtained a search warrant from a Chief Magistrate’s Court before carrying out the searches as well as a court order to detain the former senator for the alleged crimes.
“We followed due process by obtaining a search warrant from a Chief Magistrate’s Court and we ensured that the suspect was present during the exercise…..So far, nothing was found against him during the operation and the former senator has been returned to our custody,” the official explained.
It was further gathered that the EFCC took evidence from the wife of the businessman, who confirmed that Sani met with her husband in their home.
Dauda, also in his petition to the EFCC, had claimed that the former senator demanded N4m from him to give to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, and other four judges to influence some pending cases in court.
But the CJN on Sunday had denied links with Shehu Sani.
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Sani, a fiery critic of the government, has consistently maintained his innocence.
Mr Sani, who represented Kaduna Central in the last Senate, was arrested by officials of the commission in December for allegedly “collecting money in the name of the EFCC acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu”.
Meanwhile, the People’s Democratic Party has said the arrest and incarceratiom of Sani who represented Kaduna Central Senatorial District between 2015 and 2019, are unprofessional.
The PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Mr Diran Odeyemi, who said this in an interview with one of our correspondents, described as regrettable the continued detention of Sani without arraignment.
He said this suggested that the EFCC had yet to finalise its investigation.
He urged the commission to accord Sani all his rights under the law, noting that the senator remained an accused person and should be treated as an innocent person until otherwise proved.
Odeyemi said, “Senator Shehu Sani ought to be accorded all the rights availed him by our law such as immediate arraignment to avail him of the opportunity to state his case and establish his innocence.
“A professional body such as the EFCC ought to stop placing the cart before the horse. The accepted standard for such operations is to investigate first, then prosecute with the materials gathered over time.”
Yetunde Adegoke
