Presidency disowns ICPC fugitive, Yau Kumo; Says he’s not Buhari’s in-law 

The Nigerian Presidency has disowned Gimba Yau Kumo, a former Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, who was declared wanted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in connection with a case of fraud involving $65 million.

A statement by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to the President, said that Yau Kumo is no longer married to a Buhari.

“While at some point in time the said fugitive from justice had been linked to a family member in marriage, that relationship has ended some years ago,” Garba’s statement said, stressing that “it is therefore unfortunate to bring the President’s family into this case.”

The statement said that though the statement by the ICPC should have been an affirmation that the nation’s “anti-corruption agencies/institutions are truly independent and allowed unfettered freedom by the President,” which, it said, is the case, the stories which linked the President to the fugitive were only “an attempt to generate views and sell copies of sensational reporting.

“That a state institution (ICPC) can issue such (a statement) is a measure of the administration’s commitment to accountability, equality and justice,” Shehu stressed, insisting that “the President’s position at all times is that the law be allowed to take its course. As is well known of him, President Muhammadu Buhari will not provide any cover for crime, no matter who is involved.”

Kumo is reported to have married Fatima, the president’s daughter, in 2016 at Daura, Katsina state. He was declared wanted by the ICPC alongside Mr. Tarry Rufus and Mr. Bola Ogunsola “in connection with issues bordering on misappropriation of National Housing Funds and diversion of the sum of Sixty Five Million dollars ($65,000,000).”

The anti-graft agency is asking that “Anyone who has useful information on their whereabouts should report to ICPC Headquarters Abuja, any of the ICPC State Offices or the nearest police station.”