Former Sokoto governor and serving senator, Aminu Tambuwal, is in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged fraudulent cash withdrawals totalling N189 billion, Peoples Gazette can report.

Mr Tambuwal, who also served as speaker of the House of Representatives between 2011 and 2015, arrived at the EFCC’s headquarters in Abuja at about 11:00 a.m. Monday, where detectives grilled him for hours over the suspected violations of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

Impeccable EFCC sources told The Gazette that the transactions under probe involved large-scale cash withdrawals allegedly authorised during Mr Tambuwal’s eight-year tenure as Sokoto governor, from 2015 to 2023. Investigators believe the withdrawals were structured to evade scrutiny and may have been part of a broader laundering scheme.

The period of the suspicious transactions was not immediately disclosed, but officials familiar with the matter said the total figure — N189 billion — represented one of the largest single-governor cash withdrawal cases in recent EFCC history.

Mr Tambuwal’s political career has been dogged by controversy. In 2014, he famously defected from the then-ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) while serving as House speaker — a move that triggered a constitutional crisis over his seat. He later returned to the PDP in 2018, contested for the party’s presidential ticket in 2019, and was again a key contender in 2022 before stepping down for Atiku Abubakar at the convention.

Mr Tambuwal has long been accused of leveraging his political manoeuvres to shield himself from corruption probes – allegations he has repeatedly denied.

When contacted by The Gazette, spokesperson of the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, declined to comment on the development.