Operatives of Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, on Monday, March 20, 2017 stormed Umuahia, the Abia State capital and arrested the accountant general, AG, of the state, Chief Gabriel Onyendilefu, over alleged financial misappropriation during the tenure of the former governor, Senator Theodore Orji.
Impeccable sources said Onyendilefu was arrested by the anti-graft agency’s operatives as he was emerging from Gerobi Hotels, near Upstairs Line, World Bank Housing Estate, Umuahia.
The AG’s alleged arrest has become a topical issue in the state, since the news broke out.
However, there are conflicting reports about his arrest.
While some people are saying he is currently being detained, others are saying he was quizzed and later released.
There are other sources that claimed that he is currently in Abuja, where he has gone for FAC meeting.
It was learnt that AG was due for retirement after serving for eight years under former governor T. A. Orji, but got two years extension by the then governor, a development, which our source stated was for strategic reasons.
The extension was backed by an amendment in Abia State Civil Service rules and was moved and adopted in the last State House of Assembly before the expiration of the last administration.
It was also disclosed that the aim of the extension was to protect alleged financial recklessness of the past administration and work as informant over what comes in terms of fund and what goes out in the present government.
The EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, at the time of filing this report could not be reached for confirmation. A staff in AG’s office who pleaded anonymity told Daily Sun that the AG was in Abuja for a meeting convened by Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).
The staff denied any encounter between the AG and the anti-graft agency over alleged financial misconduct.
It is an open secret in Abia that there are several pockets of petitions from different groups in the state, calling on EFCC to investigate what they termed “massive looting” that characterised the immediate past administration in the state, headed by Senator Theodore Orji.
Efforts made to reach the AG in his several lines did not go through, as his lines were either switched off or not reachable.
This article originally appeared on Daily Sun.
