A former Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, on Monday, said he was the one who instigated the ongoing probe of the Benue State Government by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Tsav said the anti-graft agency was acting on a petition he wrote against the state in 2016.
He explained that the petition contained allegations of fraud levelled against the state government by some pensioners in the state.
The former police boss said already the EFCC had invited him to shed light on the petition and he had honoured the invitation.
But Tsav, who described himself as a whistle-blower and an anti-corruption crusader, said he had been informed that the Benue State had decided to reopen an old criminal case against him after his recent visit to the EFCC office.
Speaking with our correspondent on Monday, Tsav stated, “It was the case of fraud which was reported to me by pensioners and the case involved a lot of money and I forwarded it straight to the EFCC on the 12th of June, 2016.
“On 20 July 2018, they invited me to the EFCC (office) based on this petition I wrote; I made a statement, I also responded to a press interview granted by Waku.”
The ex-police boss said he would not be deterred by the criminal case reopened against him, saying that nothing would come out of it.
“I will go to court to clear myself there. Initially, they insisted that I should write to apologise and under duress, I did it, and now they have reviewed the case and I am not afraid. The case should go on. I will never apologise to Ortom again.
“I think, maybe, they want me to withdraw the complaint I made to the EFCC but I will not. I am an anti-corruption crusader. Evil men cannot destroy this country. You can take me anywhere. This is the hazard of activism,” Tsav said.
Reacting to Tsav, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Terver Akase, said the case filed against Tsav by the Benue State Attorney General, being a criminal case, could be reopened.
“In this case, Abubakar Tsav publicly apologised that he would never write or say anything against Governor Ortom again, but he has not stopped it; he is still writing falsehood against the governor.
“He has gone to the EFCC to testify against the governor; if anybody is talking about reviving a case, Abubakar Tsav has gone to the EFCC to revisit a petition he wrote against the governor; so, who is the guilty party here?” Akase asked.
Meanwhile, a Magistrates’ Court in the state, presided over by Isaac Ajim, has ordered for substituted service on Tsav in a criminal suit filed against him by the Benue State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Michael Gusa.
The court gave the order on Monday after listening to an application brought before it by counsel to the complainant, Andrew Wombo.
Wombo had sought the leave of the court to effect service on the accused via substituted means.
The complainant was granted leave to paste the summons on the last known address of the accused at Amadu Coomassie Street, beside St. Augustine Catholic Church, Demekpe, Makurdi, Benue state.
The service of the summons would also be pasted on the notice board of the Chief Magistrate Court I, Makurdi, Benue State.
Source: Punch
