Senator Godswill Akpabio, the former Governor of Akwa Ibom state has been picked up by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations of graft and embezzlement.
Officials with knowledge on the matter say Akpabio was accompanied by his legal counsel, Ricky Tarfa (SAN).
The EFCC is investigating Akpabio based on several petitions including one filed by a civil rights activist, Leo Ekpeyong.
Ekpeyong petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari and the EFCC in June, shortly after the former’s inauguration. In his petition, Ekpeyong accused Akpabio of looting in excess of N108 billion ($500 million).
Excerpts from Ekpeyong’s petition state
“Between January –December 2014, it is on record that the trio of Godswill Akpabio, Mr. Etekamba Umoren and Mr. Udo Isobara, made illegal but substantial withdrawals of cash from a designated state government-owned account with Zenith Bank with account number: 1010375881 amounting to N22.1 billion.
“It is worthy of note that reasons for such ungodly cash withdrawals against financial regulations and due process laws range between sundry use and unjustifiable expenditures by Godswill Akpabio and his numerous surrogates and proxies.
“For example, a whopping N18 billion was withdrawn fraudulently from the state FAAC account with the United Bank for Africa in trenches of N10 million and above by Mr. Isobara in a surreptitious manner to conceal their dishonest intention.”
“The cumulative aggregate of these monies stolen by Godswill Akpabio from the coffers of government as pocket money is the annual budget of some states in Nigeria put together.”
Former Akwa Ibom State Information Commissioner, Aniekan Umanah has however denied the allegations in the petition as falsehood and figment of imagination of the petitioner.
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