EFCC Secretly Grills Fashola Over Ex-FIRS Chair, Fowler’s Loot, Asset Documents
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have grilled the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, in relation to the ongoing probe of a former Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Babatunde Fowler.
It was gathered that Fashola’s questioning was related to the corrupt practices tied to his questionable assets’ declaration and the ongoing probe of Fowler, both of whom are close to former Lagos State Governor and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu.
Two senior EFCC officials told PeoplesGazette that Fashola, also a former Lagos State governor and Tinubu’s successor, was interrogated after detectives were tipped off about his involvement in Fowler’s loot during his days as the head of Lagos Inland Revenue Service and most recently at the FIRS.
It was gathered that the anit-graft agency also wrote to the Code of Conduct Bureau seeking the minister’s asset declaration documents in order to further establish another phase of the investigation.
The sources revealed that Fashola strongly denied all charges of corruption, urging EFCC officials to ensure a thorough investigation of the matter before dragging his name into it.
The former Lagos State governor’s visit to the EFCC towards the end of 2020 has been kept entirely secret until now.
Even then, little has been uncovered about the overall nature of the investigation, and specifics of what the works minister was accused of are still fuzzy.
But the mere summoning of a top administration official who handles a key ministerial position prompted suspicion amongst anti-graft officials that a cabal of other appointees and associates of the President may be seeking the former Lagos governor’s rapid fall from grace in order to delist him from 2023 presidential equation of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
