Former Gov El-Rufai Visits His Arrested Ex-chief Of Staff In Prison
A former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasiru El-Rufai has visited Bashir Sa’idu, who served as a Commissioner under his administration at a Correctional Facility in the state.
Elrufai’s visit comes after Sa’idu was arrested based on alleged corruption and money laundering while in office.
Didactic Information Hut gathered that former Gov El-Rufa’i was accompanied by some key figures of his administration, who also joined him to the court where Bashir was arraigned.
BBC Hausa who monitored the former Governor’s activities also confirmed that on Thursday evening, He also went to the office of Operation Fushin Kada, but couldn’t meet the security operatives.
The outcome of his discussions at the Police Command was not made public as the former governor did not speak to journalists.
But Didactic Information Hut reports that Mohammed Bashir Sa’idu, a former Kaduna State Commissioner of Finance and Local Government, was arrested over allegations of money laundering, criminal breach of trust, and misappropriation of public funds.
His arrest was also confirmed by the Nigeria Police Force as well as an ongoing investigation of the former state government official, who was also a Chief of Staff to El-Rufa’i.
A security source indicated that following a petition received by the police, Sa’idu is accused of laundering N3.96 billion and misappropriating N244 million during his tenure in the Kaduna State government between 2015 and 2023. The allegations include the sale of $45 million in state-owned foreign currency at an undervalued exchange rate of N410 per dollar, instead of the parallel market rate of N498 per dollar, causing a loss of over N3.96 billion to the government.
Police sources say this transaction breaches Section 18 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022. Additionally, Sa’idu is accused of failing to account for proceeds from the sale of government houses in Marafa Estate, Kaduna, amounting to approximately N244 million. This constitutes a breach of trust under Section 300 of the Penal Code of Kaduna State, 2017.
Earlier, the Kaduna State House of Assembly had investigated Sa’idu’s financial dealings and forwarded its findings to anti-corruption agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC). As part of the investigation, Sa’idu’s international passport was reportedly seized.
