Alhaji Shema was governor between 2007 and 2015 and left office last year after two terms but his party the Peoples Democratic Party lost power to the ruling All Progressives Congress in Katsina State. His successor, Governor Aminu Masari has since levelled allegations of corruption against Alhaji Shema.
EFCC spokesman Wilson Uwujaren, said that Alhaji Shema has refused all invitations to appear before the agency to answer the allegations, so they have subsequently declared him wanted. Alhaji Shema has constantly rejected accusations of graft levelled against him saying they were politically motivated.
Mr Uwujaren said: “The public is hereby notified that Ibrahim Shema, a former governor of Kastina State, is wanted by the EFCC in connection with a case of criminal conspiracy, inflation of contracts, abuse of office, diversion of funds and embezzlement, running into billions of naira. The former governor ignored several invitations by the commission since December 1, 2015, when he was first summoned by the agency and all efforts to locate him at his known addresses in Katsina and Abuja were futile.
“The 59-year-old ex-governor hails from the Dutsena-ma Local Government Area of Katsina State. He is tall, light in complexion and speaks Hausa and English fluently, so anybody, having useful information as to his whereabouts, should contact the commission.”
Governor Masari had expressed dissatisfaction with the handover note presented to him by his predecessor, prompting him to set up a probe panel into the administration of Alhaji Shema. According to Governor Masari, there are some mistakes that can be forgiven but N70bn is a huge amount of money that cannot be overlooked.
He alleged that the former governor misappropriated over N76bn collected as excess crude oil allocation and diverted over N7.5bn into his private pocket. Governor Masari also alleged that Alhaji Shema and other top government officials of the Ministry of Local Government Affairs diverted over N750m earmarked for the purchase of drugs for the state’s local governments.
In response, Alhaji Shema said in a letter written through his lawyers that that there was an unwarranted and unexpected campaign of calumny being waged against him. He described as blatant lies, nauseating and malicious the claims that the Ibrahim Shema-led administration incurred and left the state with a debt of N42bn upon the expiration of its term.
Alhaji Shema also denied that his administration incurred a foreign debt portfolio of $78m and that a sum of N13bn got missing between January and May 2015. He also debunked allegations that a sum of N7bn was dubiously transferred to the account of the state chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria.
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