N580 million recovered from former EFCC Chairman, Bawa – Insider source

Sources close to the Department of State Services, DSS said, the sum of N580 million was recovered from the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa.

The source disclosed this amid calls for his release by the Secret Police who detained the erstwhile Chairman since his suspension from office over alleged abuse by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The amount was said to have been paid by the embattled Bawa as investigation intensifies over his activities while in office as Chairman of the anti-graft agency.

The DSS has been detaining him since June without public explanation despite pressures from all over the places for his release, but sources indicated that the DSS has cogent reasons for his detention and credible information of the dirty deals of the ex-Chairman.
He was suspended from office “to allow for proper investigation into his conduct while in office” following “weighty allegation of abuse of office leveled against him”.

Bawa was taken into custody by the DSS on June 14 hours after his suspension by the president and has since remained there.
Some Civil Society Organisations and Pressure Groups have been pushing for his release to ano avail as Bawa continues to spend days and months in the DSS facility.

Also, on Wednesday, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, knocked President Tinubu’s administration over the continued detention of Bawa and the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, without trial.

“It is indefensible to keep the EFCC Chairman and the CBN governor under arrest for extended periods of time without or before trial, just as it is also unacceptable that political parties are used to intimidate and harass citizens exercising their opinions in the public domain,” Lawal said in his statement.