Fresh facts emerged Friday that the immediate past governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano, was being grilled by detectives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged mismanagement of N17billion Paris Club refund.
Although the EFCC insisted that it would not make Obiano’s offence public now because the case was still under investigation, multiple sources told Daily Trust that the former governor was also quizzed over how he spent security votes allocated to him for eight years and how some contracts were inflated.
Obiano, who was nabbed on Thursday about 8:30pm by the anti-graft agency at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos when he was on his way to the United States of America, has been transferred to the headquarters of the commission.
The officials, who asked not to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media on the matter, explained that he would answer some pertinent questions, especially on an airport contract.
“The commission has obtained different documents showing how he withdrew some monies from the state’s purse for personal use. He would have to shed more light on that, among other explanations,” one of the sources said.
It would be recalled that the anti-graft agency had since November 2021 placed the 66-year-old former governor on its watch list.
The commission had in a letter to the comptroller-general of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), dated November 15, 2021, requested the service to place him on a watch list and alert the agency anytime he is travelling out of the country via any international airport and other points of entry and exit.
When contacted, the spokesman of the commission, Wilson Uwujaren, said Obiano’s alleged offence would not be disclosed because it’s not time to do so.
Uwujaren said, “The matter is still under investigation. It is also not correct that he has been released. He is with the commission.”
