The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission says the new Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ali Modu Sheriff, is still under investigation for alleged corruption.

Sheriff was arrested by the commission in June last year for alleged embezzlement of public funds during his eight years as governor of Borno State but was granted bail.

His government was said to have received over N300bn from the Federation Account between 2003 and 2011, an amount alleged to have been mismanaged by Sheriff.

The ex-governor of Borno State was subsequently detained from June 3 to June 4, 2015 and released on administrative bail without being charged to court.
The EFCC spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, had said at the time, “We can ask him to come back anytime we need him.”

Speaking on Monday during a telephone interview, Uwujaren said, “Sheriff is still under investigation.”

When asked to explain how far the commission had gone in the probe, Uwujaren said, “I cannot disclose the details of the investigations for now but the matter is already in the public domain.”

A reliable source within the anti-graft agency told one of our correspondents that Sheriff’s probe was not a witch-hunt but a normal criminal investigation.

He said, “Criminal matters do not have statutes of limitation. If a crime took place 30 years ago, we can re-open it at any point in time and that is what is happening.”