26th March, 2022
A group in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe Senator Uba Sani, representing Kaduna Central District over alleged use of NIRSAL COVID-19 funds to bribe party executives to secure the governorship ticket of the APC.
Sani is aspiring to become Kaduna State Governor in 2023.
The PDP group called on the anti-graft agency to sanction Sani, alleging that he used funds meant for Nigeria to induce party members.
According to the Concerned Group in PDP, in the petition signed by Elias Tinburk, there are video evidence to show that he used the NIRSAL COVID-19 loans to bribe APC party delegates.
According to the petition, “We hereby urge the EFCC to investigate and sanction urgently the APC and its aspirant, Senator Uba Sani, who are clearly using the elections to commit financial crimes against the people of Kaduna and Nigeria.”
However, Abubakar Rabiu Abubakar, Zonal Chief Constituency Officer to the Senator of Kaduna Central, Uba Sani, rubbished the petition.
He said “it has been brought to the attention of Senator Uba Sani’s Political Organization that an amorphous group that goes by the name “Concerned PDP Members, Kaduna State” has written a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleging that our principal has been using public funds for personal political purposes.
“In particular, they pointed at the Senator’s mobilization of his constituents to access the CBN/NIRSAL COVID 19 funds for households and small businesses as evidence of his use of public funds to influence party delegates.”
According to him, “We are not surprised at this act of desperation by political opponents using hired hands. Since Senator Uba Sani’s entry into the governorship race, entrenched political forces have become jittery, thus a resort to blackmail, concocting of lies and unnecessary heating up of the Kaduna State political landscape.
“The petition reeks of crass ignorance. What else can we say of petition writers who are unaware that the CBN/NIRSAL COVID 19 Funds is a Federal Government Intervention to cushion the effect of COVID-19 on vulnerable households and distressed small and medium enterprises. They are not aware that it is a mark of responsiveness for a representative of the people to effectively mobilise them to access such funds.”