Anti-graft nabs Edo Accountant-General and two others over huge withdrawal of public funds

With just days remaining in Governor Godwin Obaseki’s eight-year term in Edo State, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has reportedly arrested the state’s Accountant General, Mr Julius Anelu, along with two other government officials.

Anelu and the two other yet-to-be-identified government officials were also arrested on Friday, 1st of November, 2024 and they are currently being held at the EFCC’s Benin zonal office.

The suspects were “grilled by interrogators over the night,” EFCC sources told the newsmen on Saturday.

The news outlet reports that the officials are being investigated over an unusually swift depletion of the state’s derivation account weeks to the end of Mr Obaseki’s tenure.

EFCC was said to have taken an interest in the matter and the suspects after it learnt that out of “N24.6 billion paid into the state’s derivation account, only about N14 billion was left within one week”.

Sources also reports that the agency officials plan to hold the detained staff until 12th of November, 2024, the final day of the outgoing governor’s term in Edo State.

Meanwhile, the Edo State governor-elect, Monday Okpebholo, has accused the Obaseki administration “of last-minute borrowings and looting.”

On 16th of 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. [CONTINUE READING HERE]>>>>>