THE five Jigawa State government officials arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) were yesterday released on bail, the state Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has disclosed.

Speaking to Daily Trust in Dutse, Governor Lamido said the arrested officials were on their way to Jigawa from Abuja as he spoke with our correspondent. Governor Lamido who expressed concern on the arrest, said, "after all, the five officers should not have been arrested by the commission in the first place. Everybody knows that in any state there is an executive and government officials are working under his directives, hence, the EFCC should invite me instead of arresting my subordinates.

"I wonder why the EFCC arrested my Commissioner for Local Government, Alhaji Salisu Mahmoud and the Accountant General, Alhaji Sani Ahmad Jahun. While the former was transferred to the Ministry of Local Government not less than three months ago, the latter spent not more than six months as AG, said the governor.

Lamido added that the irony was that the petition with which the EFCC was probing Jigawa was written since August 2007. Speaking to Daily Trust on phone, the state Commissioner for Local Government, Alhaji Salisu Mahmoud, confirmed that they had already returned to Dutse, the capital of Jigawa State from Abuja.

Mahmouda described the arrest as the will of God, adding, "this will not deter us from executing meaningful projects that have direct impact on the lives of our people. For any job there is hazard, hence, I consider this matter as job hazard".

It would be recalled that, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) last week Monday arrested Jigawa State Commissioner for Local Government, Alhaji Salisu Mahmouda, Accountant General, Alhaji Sani Ahmad Jahun, and three permanent secretaries of Ministry of Works, Finance and Local Government over alleged N15 billion fraud.