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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is set to arrest six more ex-governors who vacated office on May 29, THE PUNCH has learnt.
A reliable source in the EFCC dropped hints of the arrest on Thursday even as the anti-graft agency arrested and detained the immediate past governors of Ogun, Oyo and Nasarawa states, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala and Alhaji Aliyu Akwe Doma respectively.
“In the next two or three weeks, I can tell you that at least six more ex-governors, who vacated office in May, will be invited for questioning,” the source, a senior official of the agency who wanted anonymity, said.
The source said the trio of Daniel, Alao-Akala and Doma were picked up by operatives of the anti-graft agency “before noon” at different locations. It was learnt that while Daniel was picked up at his Asoludero country home in Sagamu, Ogun State; Alao-Akala was arrested in Ibadan, while Doma was picked up in Abuja.
THE PUNCH gathered that the agency arrested the former governors after the conclusion of investigations into the petitions against them. The three ex-governors were alleged to have diverted and misappropriated a total of N101bn of public funds.
Daniel allegedly misappropriated N58bn; Alao-Akala, N25bn; and Doma, N18bn.
As at the time your newspaper went to bed last night, all the three ex-governors were being detained at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja. Daniel arrived the EFCC office, dressed in a white Agbada and accompanied by his wife, Yeye Olufunke.
A group of supporters of Daniel and Alao-Akala were seen at the EFCC premises engaged in a hot prayer session, apparently interceding for their principals.
A source in the EFCC said their arrest was delayed because the allegations against them had not been well investigated.
“We do not want courts to throw away cases against the former governors, hence our decision to properly investigate the allegations,” he said.
The spokesperson of the EFCC, Mr. Femi Babafemi, confirmed the arrest of the three former governors.
He said, “It is true that they (Daniel, Alao-Akala and Doma) are with us and I can’t make further comments for now.”
The former Ogun governor was said to be at Ikenne where he was attending the conference of Yoruba leaders, when his aides phoned to inform him about the presence of the EFCC operatives in his residence.
Daniel was said to have left Ikenne for his residence, from where he was arrested by the EFCC operatives and taken to Lagos.
Our correspondents gathered that Daniel was quizzed for five hours at the Lagos office of the EFCC before he was brought to the anti-graft agency headquarters in Abuja at 7:30 pm on Thursday.
Akala was reportedly picked in his Ibadan home early Thursday morning as he was preparing to attend the funeral rites of a former governor in the state, Chief Kolapo Ishola.
Our correspondents gathered that the former governor was dressed in a flowing gown and was wearing a necklace when the EFCC operatives whisked him away to Lagos.
Meanwhile, the media aide to Daniel, Mr. Adegbenro Adebanjo, said his boss was “invited and not arrested.”
He said, “Today, agents of the EFCC visited the Sagamu home of Otunba Gbenga Daniel, former governor of Ogun State. When they got there Otunba Daniel was at the pan-Yoruba summit in Ikenne.
“On learning of their presence in Sagamu, Otunba Daniel left Ikenne to join them. After which he was taken away by the agents ostensibly to continue investigation into the petitions it had received against the former governor.
“It is important to state that prior to their visit, Daniel had not been invited to answer any question. Also nothing incriminating has been found or brought to his notice by officials of the EFCC.
“Indeed when speculation became rife that he might be invited for questioning a scheduled trip abroad by the former governor was put on hold in order for him to be available to answer the summons of the EFCC. As a law abiding citizen Otunba Daniel expects the agency to follow the due process in the current situation.
“Otunba Daniel remains confident that he would be vindicated as the petitions written against him and which may have formed the basis of his invitation by the EFCC are politically motivated. We believe that at the end of the day the truth will prevail.”
The spokesperson to Alao-Akala, Prince Dotun Oyelade, in an SMS to one of our correspondents, said, “As I communicate with you now, former governor Alao-Akala is on his way to Abuja on the invitation of the EFCC. He was never arrested as he left to honour the invitation on his own as law abiding citizen.”
But the Special Adviser to the Oyo state governor on media, Festus Adedayo, said, “Though the arrest is a vindication of our earlier allegation of the predatory clean-up of the state’s patrimony for four years by the Alao-Akala government, the present government does not want to gloat over the fate of the former governor. We only enjoin both the EFCC and the judiciary to allow justice to be done.”
While the EFCC could not arrest the former governors when they were in office because of the immunity clause, their aides were interrogated by the agency and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission.
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