The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Thursday arrested the immediate past governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano hours after attending the inauguration of his successor, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo.
He was arrested at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Lagos, at about 8:30 pm while on his way to the United States of America.
Obiano had been on the commission’s watchlist.
The EFCC had requested the Nigeria Immigration Service to inform it anytime the governor was travelling out of the country from any of the international airports, as well as other points of entry and exit.
It is, however, not clear why the anti-graft agency placed the governor on a watchlist.
Sources said the move was a confirmation that the agency may have been discreetly investigating the former governor and possibly had intelligence that he was planning to escape after handing over power to his successor, Professor Charles Soludo, on March 16, 2022.
Former Anambra State Commissioner for Information, Don Adinuba, had, at the time, condemned the EFCC watchlist reports, claiming that they were politically motivated.
Adinuba said; “Governor Obiano has a whole four months to remain in office as the Anambra State chief executive,” Adinuba said. “Nobody in Nigeria can circumscribe his constitutionally conferred immunity which shields him from both criminal and civil prosecution.
“The EFCC went too far to announce in November that it is observing him. We are not aware of any state governor who had up to four months to be in office and the EFCC went on to sponsor media reports that he was being investigated.”
