EFCC RE-ARRESTS ADAMU, EX-NASARAWA GOV, 3 COMMISSIONERS
EFCC re-arrests Adamu, ex-Nasarawa gov, 3 commissioners
From MURPHY GANAGANA, Abuja
Wednesday, March 3 , 2010
Former governor of Nasarawa State and Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, was yesterday re-arrested in Abuja by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over an alleged N15 billion fraud.
Also arrested along with Adamu, whose international passport had been seized by the EFCC last week after two days of intense grilling, are three commissioners who served during his eight-year tenure. They are the commissioners for Works, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and their Finance counterpart.
EFCC spokesman, Femi Babafemi, who confirmed the development said the ex-governor and the three others would be detained till today when they are expected to be arraigned in court.
Authorities of the commission had last week begun moves to tighten the noose around the PDP top shot after his initial invitation penultimate Monday during which he was asked to return two days thereafter and his passport seized.
Although he was eventually allowed to go home on Monday after spending the whole day answering questions at the EFCC headquarters, he was asked to report back on Wednesday and was expected to come along with some vital documents which he claimed would authenticate his plea of innocence.
'We decided to release him on Monday night after a long session of interrogation. But we asked him to come back on Wednesday along with some vital documents he believed, will help him in the case,' a reliable source at the EFCC told Daily Sun.
It was further gathered that when he eventually turned up with the required documents, the commission then resolved that he had a prima facie case to answer and as such, decided to re-arrest him for arraignment today.
The ex-Nasarawa governor had been under probe over alleged financial malpractices and contract scam, including the mismanagement of about N15 billion through phony contracts. Amongst the alleged acts are the approval and disbursement of N1,147,775.370 for various projects without execution, award of N2,151,680,359 for the construction of Nasarawa State Liaison Office in Abuja, which was, however, allegedly abandoned in 2007 after the contractor had collected N2 billion.
Others are the collection of N6 billion ecological funds between 2003 and 2007 from the Federation Account without proper records, payment of N1.5 billion for building and purchase of equipment for three hospitals in the state (one in each of the three senatorial districts), which ended up only with the structures, but no facilities; allocation of funds for the construction of Engineering Complex (N71 million) and Administrative Block (N34 million) at the Nasarawa State Polytechnic, Lafia, which were found not to have been executed.
He is also to explain how the sum of N299,107,000 was paid for the provision of floodlight, electronic score board and extension of VIP stand at the Lafia Township Stadium for which 95 per cent of the contract sum was paid upfront, but the power generating house was neither built nor a power generator supplied.