Kogi State Government has threatened to institute charges against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC over malicious allegations of N19.3bn bailout fund if it fails to retract the statement.
Addressing newsmen in Lagos State, the State Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo stated that the government is giving EFCC 48hours to tender a public apology or prepared to meet in court.
Mr. Fanwo denied ownership of the N19.3 billion allegedly returned to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by the EFCC, and the account in question is also not the state account.
Backing up his claims, the Commissioner stated that Sterling Bank had written to EFCC to indicate that the claims are falsehood but because of political witch haunt still went ahead to indict the Kogi State Governor, Yahya Bello.
The commissioner reiterated that the state does not operate a fixed deposit Sterling Bank account, which had been clarified by the bank in its letter, dated Sept. 1.
On EFCC’s claim that the sum of about N700m was transferred from the N19.3 billion on the instruction of the Kogi government, the commissioner said that Sterling Bank had clarified that the account was not an operational account but was a mirror account opened for administrative purposes.
Reporting by Wahab Akinlade; editing by Abdullahi Lamino