EFCC arrests Edo accountant general and two others over withdrawals of N14.6bn days to Obaseki’s handover

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested the Accountant General of Edo State, Julius Anelu, and two other government officials.

Anelu and other officials who were in the custody of the commission as of the time of filing this report (7:30 pm) on Friday were arrested for alleged withdrawals of huge sums of money from the state’s account.

According to an impeccable source in the EFCC, out of N24.6bn paid into the government’s account, about N14bn was left within one week after the money was deposited some weeks back.

The source added that the EFCC acted to save the state and not to ground its activities as being peddled.

“We made some arrests of about two to three persons, including the Accountant General of the state. We have been investigating the governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki, since 2022 but this latest arrest was as a result of some withdrawals from the state’s derivation account.

“The amounts withdrawn were huge sums. For instance, about some weeks ago, N N24.6bn was paid into that account. But in less than one week, about N14bn was remaining in the account. To save the state, we had to quickly move. We are not in any way doing that to ground the state activities”, said the source.

Efforts to get the EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, proved abortive as calls to his line were not answered.

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.

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.

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