The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested the immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel, over alleged fraud amounting to N700 billion.
 
Emmanuel, who governed the state from 2015 to 2023, reportedly arrived at the EFCC’s main office in Abuja about 12.30p.m., yesterday, responding to an invitation from the anti-corruption agency.
 
A top EFCC official disclosed to The Guardian: “We are interrogating the former governor of Akwa Ibom over an alleged N700 billion fraud.” The Network Against Corruption and Trafficking (NACAT), last month, stormed the corporate headquarters of EFCC to demand probe into security votes allocated to both present and past state governors.
 
In a petition tabled before the anti-graft agency, NACAT noted that it painstakingly investigated and audited many of the financial records of the states available it, particularly that of Akwa Ibom, and discovered wanton corruption and embezzlement of public funds in 2018 alone and decided to hand over the matter to the EFCC as the government agency empowered by law to look into economic and financial crimes for further investigation and prosecution.
 
According to NACAT’s Operations Manager, Stanley Ugagbe, over N3 trillion was allocated to Akwa Ibom under the eight years tenure of Emmanuel, but that a staggering N700 billion was diverted, in addition to over 500 billion borrowed to undertake futile projects across the state.
 
He informed the commission that over N4.5 billion was withdrawn and claimed to be given to security agencies in a space of six months, adding that over N10 billion was spent in just 2018 as security votes, in addition to the withdrawals of N4.665 billion from the Office Of The Governor Of AKSG into a Wema Bank account number 0122882810.
 
Reacting to the development, an anti-corruption expert, Light Shedrack, insisted that leaders were supposed to be accountable to the people who elected them into office and every kobo received by them must be accounted for.
 
He noted: “One kobo in the name of security vote does not belong to any governor. Yes, they are the chief security officer of that state. But that money doesn’t belong to them. It is not their money. It is the state’s fund.”