The Presidency, Friday, declared that President Muhammadu Buhari has no relationship with Gimba Yau Kumo, who is on the wanted list of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) in connection with a $65 million fraud at the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).
ICPC, in a list of wanted persons posted on its website, declared Kumo wanted alongside Tarry Rufus and Bola Ogunsola over the alleged fraud.
A statement signed by Garba Shehu, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, said this should normally be an affirmation that our anti-corruption agencies/institutions are truly independent and allowed unfettered freedom by the President, which in fact, is the case.
That a state institution can issue such is a measure of the administration’s commitment to accountability, equality and justice.
“To set the records straight, the person declared wanted by the ICPC is not an in-law to President Buhari. While at some point in time, the said fugitive from justice had been linked to a family member in marriage, that relationship has ended some years ago.
“It is, therefore, unfortunate to bring the Presidents family into this case. It is in our view, an attempt to generate views and sell copies of sensational reporting.
“The President’s position at all times is that the law be allowed to take its course. As is well known of him, President Muhammadu Buhari will not provide any cover for crime, no matter who is involved.”
Kumo had in 2016, married Fatima, the President’s daughter, in Daura, Katsina State.
ICPC’s spokesperson, Azuka Ogugua, in the notice, urged the public to avail the Commission information about the whereabouts of the wanted persons.
According to the notice posted late on Thursday: “The persons whose pictures appear above, Mr. Tarry Rufus, Mr. Gimba Yau Kumo and Mr. Bola Ogunsola, are hereby declared WANTED by the ICPC in connection with issues bordering on misappropriation of National Housing Funds and diversion of the sum of Sixty Five Million dollars ($65,000,000)
Anyone who has useful information on their whereabouts should report to ICPC Headquarters, Abuja, any of the ICPC state offices or the nearest Police station.
The Senate Committee on Public Accounts had in April this year summoned Kumo to explain an alleged irregular award of N3billion contract when he was still at the bank.
The 2015-2018 report is currently under scrutiny by the committee, chaired by Mathew Urhoghide, representing Edo South. According to the report, the contract was awarded in four phases and was overpaid to the tune of N3billion.
In a reaction, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the alleged $65 million (about N31 billion) fraud in the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), in which Kumo is allegedly involved.
The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, expressed disappointment that “the Presidency had remained silent in the face of the huge fraud involving Mr. President’s son-in-law, only for certain members of the cabal to be reportedly mounting pressure on the ICPC to let him off the hook.”
The party charged the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) not to succumb to reported pressure from the cabal in the Presidency, but to track down Kumo, a former managing director of the bank, who had already been declared wanted, and bring him to book alongside his accomplices.
