Former governor of Katsina State, Ibrahim Shema, who was declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday, has turned himself him in.

His spokesperson, Oluwabusola Olawale told newsmen that the ex-governor “arrived at the EFCC headquarters around 9:30 a.m.” on Friday.

Olawale said his principal took the step because “he’s a law abiding citizen who has absolutely nothing to fear.”

He also criticized the EFCC, saying that the commission “has not been fair to him (Shema) in handling his case.”

The EFCC had released a statement on Wednesday, saying that Shema had ignored all invitations extended to him by the anti-corruption agency to answer to allegations of “criminal conspiracy, inflation of contract, abuse of office, diversion of funds and embezzlement running into billions of naira”.

However, Shema’s media aide released a statement on Thursday, calling out the EFCC for trying to dent the image of the former governor.

According to the statement, Shema had on June 28, cancelled a religious trip to Saudi Arabia in order to honour the invitation of the EFCC, but was told to go back and report on a later date as the officer handling his case was out of town.

“He was told to come back later because the officials in charge were on other assignment,” Olawale said.

“After that, he also wrote them through his lawyers for a new date but they didn’t respond.

“We also took letters to their office which they declined to collect.”

The spokesman insisted that the whole Saga linking Shema to corruption during his time as Katsina State governor “are politically-motivated attacks aimed at rubbishing a man who served the people of Katsina well throughout his tenure.”

“He didn’t only clear all the state’s debts, he also left a robust treasury for the incoming government,” Olawale said.

A source at the EFCC  who spoke to the media on condition of anonymity, said Shema allegedly diverted about N18 billion from government coffers into his private accounts for undisclosed reasons.

The officials said the ex-governor further raided local governments’ monthly allocation accounts which were being jointly run with the state government, leaving little for developmental projects and clearance of local government employees’ wages and salaries.