Date Published: 05/03/10

N32bn Scandal: We will not detain rufai says EFCC...To be arraigned Thursday

El-Rufai

The EFCC on monday said it has no intention of detaining ex FCT minister, Nasir El-Rufai, who is due to honor the agency's invitation on tuesday to tell all he knows about the alleged miasppropriation of over N32 billion being proceeds from sales of federal Government properties.

The ex minister who returned to Nigeria a couple of days ago also has some explanantion to do concerning his alleged illegal  appropriation of plots of land belonging to the PHCN. He was alleged to have stripped the PHCN of the plots and allocated them to his wife and other members of his family.

EFCC spokesman, Femi Babafemi who confirmed these development to pointblanknews.com on monday said El-Rufai would be arraigned in a Federal high court on Thursday .

According to him, El Rufai would not be detained because he has volunteered to return and face the charges.

He said " He has the case of the N32 billion proceeds from the sales of Government properties in Abuja, he also has to explainthe PHCN land he allegedly took and allocated to his family. There are also two other issues we dont want to talk about for now"

Babafemi said further" We will not detain him because he has voluntered to honor the the invitation. We will most likely take to court wednesday or Thursday after he gets what is called ' an administrative bail'

On his return the ex minister had said "It is my hope that Nigerians in the Diaspora, spread across the world; Nigerians who love their country; who understand its vast potential, feel compelled to return to Nigeria. There is a small window of opportunity to build a new Nigeria – where the government is accountable to its people; where civil society becomes the guardian of its democracy. 

He said further "We need to work with those "agents of change" to ensure a free and fair election in Nigeria.  Towards this end, I applaud the decisive actions of acting President Goodluck Jonathan in setting a new direction for good governance, and most recently, for paving the way for the re-constitution of the Independent National Electoral Commission. 

"Many of the false allegations have since been dropped and it is instructive to note that only one criminal charge has been filed against me after over two years of extensive and endless investigations. It is my intention to vigorously defend the spurious charge and work.