•Denies arrest of Atiku’s children
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday confirmed the arrest of Ogbonna Orji , is one of the children of a former Abia State Governor Theodore Orji.
It, however, denied the arrest of the sons of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
The commission described the purported raid on the apartments of Atiku’s sons for foreign currencies as another tales by moonlight.
The EFCC also said it did not block or freeze the accounts of Atiku’s running mate and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi.
It made the clarifications in a statement by its Acting Head of Media and Publicity, Mr. Tony Orilade.
The statement reads: “We have received several calls and email messages asking us to confirm the arrest of the sons of the presidential candidate of the People Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as being alleged in some quarters.
“Some also said we raided the apartments of Atiku’s son looking for foreign currencies. This is nothing but another tales by moonlight.
“It is in the news that we have been investigating the former Abia governor, Senator Theodore Orji over alleged N27 billion money laundering. In the course of investigation, we discovered that he laundered part of the money through his sons.
“We have been on the trail of some of the purchases made by his son including the cars the boys allegedly bought.
“Last Friday, we traced one of the cars to a night club in Abuja. In order not to cause panic, we waited until the business of the club was over and when the owner of the suspected car entered to take off, we arrested him and his friend who has a similar brand of car. That was about 5am on Saturday, December 8, 2018.
“The two boys we arrested were Ogbonna Orji, 32, and Kelvin Ilonah. While Orji’s car, a Range Rover is valued at about N100 million, Ilonah’s car also a Range Rover, is valued at about N35 million.”
The statement gave the details of the interrogation of the governor’s son and his friend.
“In the course of further interrogation, the two boys led us to their apartment, three flats, and documents retrieved from the apartment showed it was rented for N13 million each per annum.
“Another new Prado Jeep, a 2017 model was recovered from the boys in the compound. The two boys in question gave useful information to the commission, which is helping in our further investigation.
“The EFCC, as a responsible organisation is abreast of the establishment mandate and we shall not deviate from such mandate.
“We never went after Atiku’s sons, neither were Atiku’s sons among the two boys arrested. There is no link whatsoever to Atiku.
“Only last week, PDP was alleged to have raised alarm that the commission blocked and or freeze the accounts of the vice presidential candidate of the PDP, Peter Obi.
“Again, this was another lie which we immediately punctured as there was no truth in it whatsoever, to the accusation. Till now, only silence has prevailed from the camp of the accusers.”
