By Linus Aleke
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), yesterday grilled the Director of Finance and Accounts in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Eno Ubi-Otu, over an alleged diversion of N25bn tax remittances.
Ubi-Otu’s interrogation, ThisNigeria learnt, was part of a larger investigation of the forensic Audit Report of the NDDC.
Attempts to confirm the arrest and questioning from the spokesperson for the commission, Wilson Uwujaren, were not possible as he could not be reached, while he did not answer phone calls and text messages sent to his known phone number as of press time.
However, an EFCC source, who confirmed that the accounts director is in their custody, disclosed that the arrest was part of a larger investigation of the forensic audit report of the NDDC.
[JUST IN]2023: Wike, Ortom, Ikpeazu, Makinde arrive London for strategic consultations
*Shocking revelation from forensic audit report
The source said the suspect is likely to spend some time with the commission while the investigation is going on.
She said, “I can tell you that what has been uncovered so far is shocking and mindboggling. But it is only the tip of the iceberg. Investigations are going smoothly and at the appropriate time, the commission will tell Nigerians what has been uncovered.”
In May this year, the EFCC detained a former Managing Director of the NDDC, Mr Nsima Ekere, over corruption allegations.
Ekere was grilled over allegations of contract inflation and the award of fictitious contracts during his time in office between 2017 and 2018.
He was fingered for laundering funds from NDDC accounts through contractors to buy choice properties in Lagos.
In June this year, the interim administrator of the NDDC, Dr Effiong Akwa, said the forensic audit on NDDC opened a can of worms in the commission, adding that the worms were being treated.
Also, the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, earlier said that 13,000 projects were abandoned in the region since the creation of NDDC.
He said this when he submitted the forensic audit report on the NDDC to President Muhammadu Buhari, through the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, in Abuja.
In July, President Muhammadu Buhari said his administration had started the implementation of the NDDC forensic audit report which was submitted to him in September 2021.
