Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday arrested former Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Lagos, barely five hours after handing over power to his successor, Prof Charles Soludo.
Obiano, who has been on the Commission’s watchlist for months, was arrested at about 8.30pm.
He was reportedly on his way out of the country to Houston, Texas in the United States after handing over to his successor, Governor Charles Soludo.
Obiano had been on the watchlist of the commission months before his tenure as a governor ended.
In a letter to the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) dated November 15, 2021, EFCC requested the NIS to place the governor on a watchlist and inform it anytime he is travelling out of the country from any of the international airports and other points of entry and exit.
It is, however, not yet clear why the anti-graft agency placed the governor on a watchlist.
Sources said that the move was an indication that the agency may have been discreetly investigating the governor and possibly have 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.
“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.”
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