Shehu Sani, a former senator who represented Kaduna Central in the last Senate, has been arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Mr Sani was arrested for allegedly collecting money in the name of the EFCC acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu, sources told this newspaper.
A source familiar with the arrest told our reporter that Mr Sani was outed following a leak that he collected money from a popular Kaduna businessman to give Mr Magu.
Following a conflict between him and his former in-law, a famous Kaduna car dealer, Sani Dauda, was said to have been approached by Mr Sani to help him get EFCC to dig up alleged crimes of his estranged in-law.
A top source at the EFCC, who asked for anonymity as he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said Mr Sani collected $10,000 from Mr Dauda.
But a source in Kaduna said Mr Sani returned the money to Mr Dauda after the deal leaked and the businessman was invited by EFCC to make a statement.
According to the EFCC source, Mr Sani tried hard to evade invitation and arrest by EFCC operatives as he switched off his known telephone lines for days.
“He was later tracked down to a location in Abuja and was picked up about an hour ago,” he said.
The EFCC official, however, said operatives would now investigate if Mr Sani had been using Mr Magu’s name in this way, or if this was an isolated case.
None of the sources was willing to speak on the record and PREMIUM TIMES has not been able to independently confirm the allegations, beyond the fact that he has been arrested.
EFCC’s spokesperson, Wilson Uwajaren, said he had no information on Mr Sani’s arrest.
Repeated calls to Mr Sani’s phone Tuesday afternoon were not answered.
