EFCC detains Edo’s accountant-general, two others over last-minute withdrawals

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has detained the Accountant General of Edo State, Julius Anelu, and two other state government officials over suspicious withdrawals of sums of money by the outgoing Governor Godwin Obaseki’s administration.

Mr Anelu and the two other yet-to-be-identified government officials were arrested in Edo State on Friday.

The suspects were “grilled by interrogators over the night,” EFCC sources told PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday.

This newspaper gathered that the EFCC is holding them in its facility in Edo State and may be moved to the agency’s South-South Zonal Office in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for further interrogation.

Our reporter leant that the officials are being investigated over an unusually swift depletion of the state’s derivation account weeks to the end of Mr Obaseki’s tenure.

EFCC was said to have taken an interest in the matter and the suspects after it learnt that out of “N24.6 billion paid into the state’s derivation account, only about N14 billion was left within one week”.

The spokesperson for the EFCC, Dele Oyewale has yet to respond to inquiries from PREMIUM TIMES. He has yet to also respond to a message sent to him on the matter.

The Edo State governor-elect, Monday Okpebholo, set to be inaugurated into office on 12 November, has accused the Obaseki administration “of last-minute borrowings and looting.”

On 16 October, Mr Okpebholo called on the EFCC, police, the State Security Service (SSS) and other relevant agencies to investigate the allegations.

But the Obaseki administration denied the allegations, challenging the incoming governor to back his allegations with proof.

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Philip Shaibu, whose court judgement reinstating him as the deputy governor of the state has been ignored by the Obasseki administration, has also warned that top government officials would be held responsible if looting of government properties occurs as the Obaseki-led administration winds down.

“As our administration ends in a few weeks, I have issued a stern warning to Permanent Secretaries, Heads of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies to guard against the looting of government properties by political appointees, as they will be held accountable by the incoming administration for any assets missing under their watch,” Mr Shaibu said.