Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), a civil rights advocacy group, demanded the arrest of Aliyu Abdulhameed, the Managing Director of the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending, on Monday due to an alleged N5.6 billion wheat fraud.
Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the national coordinator of HURIWA, denounced the covert dismissal of Abdulhameed by President Muhammadu Buhari and Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria after the alleged heist was made public.
The group claimed that the secrecy surrounding the claims of corruption undermined the anti-graft campaign of the President Buhari regime and implied that the current administration was somehow participating in premeditated attempts to cover up the misdeeds of public employees.
If Abdulhameed has been fired as has been widely reported, HURIWA has charged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission with arresting him and bringing charges against him.
According to reports in the media, Abdulhameed was fired last week due to several claims of corruption, including those involving the 2018 project wheat intended for farmers in the states of Kano and Jigawa. Since then, another fellow has been chosen to run NIRSAL, a $500 million non-bank financial institution established by the CBN with the responsibility of managing credit risks associated with Nigerian agribusiness.
