The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested the immediate-past governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano, over corruption allegations.
Sources at the commission, who asked not to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the press on the matter, said Mr Obiano was nabbed at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Lagos, as he was preparing to board a flight to Houston, the United States.
The arrest was said to have taken place at about 8.30p.m. on Thursday.
This was just hours after Mr Obiano handed over as governor of the South-East state of Anambra.
An EFCC source said Mr Obiano had been on the commission’s list for some time.
“EFCC today March 17, 2022 picked up ex governor Obiano of Anambra State. The former governor who has been on the Commission’s watchlist was arrested at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport Lagos at about 8.30pm as he prepared to board a flight to Houston, USA,” a source told PREMIUM TIMES.
As of the time of the arrest, the ripples generated after Mr Obiano’s wife, Ebelechukwu, was slapped by Bianca Ojukwu, widow of the late Biafra leader, Odumegwu Ojukwu, at the inauguration ceremeony of the new governor of Anambra State, had yet to simmer down.
A former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Charles Soludo, was sworn in as the new governor of the state on Thursday.
Obiano on watch list
Although the details of the EFCC’s allegations against Mr Obiano could not be immediately ascertained on Thursday, it will be recalled that the commission had since last year placed the former governor on its watch list.
PREMIUM TIMES reported in November last year that the EFCC had in a letter to the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) dated November 15, 2021, requested the Service to place the governor on watchlist and inform it anytime he is travelling out of the country from any of the International airports and other points of entry and exit.
It was not clear why the anti-graft agency placed the governor on watchlist.
But knowledgeable sources had told this newspaper that the move was an indication that the agency might have been discreetly investigating the governor and possibly had intelligence that he planned to travel after handing over power to his successor.
EFCC operatives swooped on him on Thursday hours after he lost the constitutional immunity shielding him from criminal prosecution while in office as governor.
PREMIUM TIMES
