Former Governor of Akwa Ibom State and incumbent Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, was on Friday quizzed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations of financial impropriety levelled against him.
He was said to have been picked up at his Abuja residence and accompanied to the Commission’s office by a few aides and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Ricky Tarfa, at about 5:20pm.
“He was brought in at about 5.20 pm accompanied by a few aides and Mr. Rickey Tarfa,” a source said.
‘’Yes. The former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godswill Akpabio, was arrested. As at the time I left office, which was about 7pm, he was still being interrogated by our operatives.
The former governor was released around 11pm.
It was also gathered that the anti-corruption agency had started investigation into alleged stealing of N108.1billion of Akwa Ibom funds by Akpabio in June this year – following a written petition by one Mr. Leo Ekpenyong, an Abuja based lawyer.
In the petition dated June 22, 2015, Mr. Ekpenyong had stated that between January and December 2014, the ex-governor colluded with two of his personal aides to steal a huge sum of N108.1 billion from the state’s treasury.
According to him, “Between January –December 2014, it is on record that the trio of Godswill Akpabio, Mr. Etekamba Umoren and Mr. Udo Isobara, made illegal but substantial withdrawals of cash from a designated state government-owned account with Zenith Bank with account number: 1010375881 amounting to N22.1 billion’’.
“It is worthy of note that reasons for such ungodly cash withdrawals against financial regulations and due process laws range between sundry use and unjustifiable expenditures by Akpabio and his numerous surrogates and proxies.
“For example, a whopping N18 billion was withdrawn fraudulently from the state FAAC account with the United Bank for Africa in trenches of N10 million and above by Mr. Isobara in a surreptitious manner to conceal their dishonest intention.”
In the period under review, the petitioner added that the ex-governor also withdrew a huge sum of N18 billion from the state account under the guise of special services, reception of very important guests and sundry items.
He added: “The cumulative aggregate of these monies stolen by Akpabio from the coffers of government as pocket money is the annual budget of some states in Nigeria put together.”
Among the properties, which the petitioner claimed the ex-governor acquired through proxies include, a multi-billion naira mansion at Plot 5 Ikogosi Spring Close, off Katsina-Ala Crescent, Maitama-Abuja; a multi-billion naira maisonette at Plot 28 Colorado Close, Maitama, Abuja and another multi-billion naira mansion at 22 Probyn Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Others include a multi-billion naira property at Plot 23 Olusegun Aina Street, Parkview, Lagos; a multi-billion naira 25 storey building and others in Lagos.
A series of messages from Akpabio’s Twitter account later revealed that he was back home and that he had nothing to hide.
The tweets read: “His Excellency, Senator Akpabio is back to the house. We want to reaffirm that he has nothing whatsoever to hide about his term in office in Akwa Ibom.”
Earlier, @SenAkpabio had tweeted: “Senator Akpabio was never arrested. He simply obliged an invitation to come and answer some questions at the EFCC headquarters.
“Senator Akpabio has nothing to hide that’s why he walked into EFCC himself this evening to answer questions about his tenure in Akwa Ibom.
“Those who are playing politics with the decision of Senator Akpabio to honour the EFCC invitation must be acting a known script.
“Senator Akpabio was called from EFCC to come for explanations and he drove there himself 50 minutes later. So, why all the news of arrest?”
