Alhaji Isa, a leading member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and a former military governor of Kaduna State, is the first chieftain of the governing party to be arrested as part of the scam. Over recent weeks, several members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been arrested for benefitting from the deal that saw money budgeted for arms diverted into private accounts.
A close associate of President Buhari who was by his side throughout the election campaign, Alhaji Isa was the military administrator of Kaduna State from December 1993 to August 1996 in General Sani Abacha’s regime. He was also a member of the 19-man APC Transition Committee put in place to usher in the new federal government after it defeated the PDP at the last elections.
In the 2011 elections, Alhaji Isa was a governorship candidate for the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Kano State, for whom President Buhari stood as a presidential candidate. Until he was dropped at the eleventh hour, he was said to be on the president’s ministerial list and tipped to be a member of the cabinet.
According to one security source, Alhaji Isa’s problems began when former national security adviser Col Sambo Dasuki sent him the sum of N100m to win him over to the camp of former president Dr Goodluck Jonathan during the last general elections. Both Isa and Dasuki are believed to be close allies and the former was said to have used a security aide to General Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, as the link.
Earlier this week, EFCC operatives stormed Alhaji Isa's Abuja residence on Ajayi Crowther Street, Asokoro after he failed to honour an invitation sent to him. He is currently undergoing questioning and President Buhari has reportedly said that he will not interfere in the matter or use his influence to affect Alhaji Isa's release.
“Due to his closeness to President Buhari and for being a highly respected citizen of the country, the commission invited him to answer a few questions over N100m he allegedly received from Dasuki through a third party. However, he refused to honour it and the commission had no choice but to effect his arrest,” the source said.
With his arrest, the EFCC might have unconsciously answered its critics who accuse it of being selective in the prosecution of the anti-graft war. President Buhari had, during his visit to the US, told the whole world that he would not be selective in the war against corruption currently going on under his watch.
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