The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 2024 governorship candidate, Mr Asue Ighodalo, of preventing its officers from arresting Mr Jonathan Okunbor, a suspect connected to a case of misappropriation of funds involving all the 18 local government areas of Edo State.
Narrating the commission’s ordeal on Wednesday in Abuja after a failed attempt to apprehend the suspect, Dele Oyewale, the EFCC spokesperson, noted that insinuations that Mr Jonathan Okunbor is a witness of the PDP in the election tribunal, as claimed by Ighodalo, were not true.
According to Oyewale, investigators had interrogated the counsel to Ighodalo on the status of Okunbor in the election tribunal matters, and he clearly stated that he was not a witness in the matter.
The EFCC spokesperson stated that ongoing investigations showed that about N6 billion was diverted to Kezmith Global Ventures, owned by Okunbor, maintaining that the suspect was running the ventures using the name and identity of Mr Godfrey Emode.
He added that the commission’s investigators, in their quest to unearth the shadiness of Okunbor, arrested Emode, who led them to the suspect in Eterno Hotel, where a pre-trial meeting was being held.
He said: “In spite of this, Mr Ighodalo and his co-travellers at Eterno Hotel prevented EFCC officers from carrying out their constitutional duty and obstructed them from arresting Okunbor.
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“Specifically, Ighodalo insisted that Okunbor was his witness when it was obvious that he only wanted to aid his escape from the commission’s investigators.
“The Commission wishes to state without any equivocation that Okunbor is not a witness of the PDP in the election tribunal, as claimed by Mr Asue Ighodalo. Rather, he is a prime suspect connected to a case of misappropriation of funds involving all the 18 local government areas of Edo State.”
Oyewale further noted that the EFCC remains committed to its adherence to the rule of law and has no business with any Edo State election witness who has no corruption charge before it.
He added that the agency will not hesitate to bring anyone to trial, witness or no witness, if it has a basis for doing so, assuring the public that Okunbor will be brought to book soon in connection with the alleged N6 billion fraud involving his firm, Kezmith Global Ventures.
