Hours after his tenure in office ended Thursday, the immediate past Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Obiano who has now lost his constitutional immunity, was arrested at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Lagos, late Thursday 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.
Last year, EFCC had announced that it had placed Obiano under watch. It is, however, not yet clear why the anti-graft agency placed the governor on a watchlist.
However, in his response, Willie Obiano told the EFCC that he will be relocating to his United States base when he leaves office next March.
Reacting to the placement of the former governor on a watch list by the anti-graft agency, Anambra State Former Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Don Adinuba, accused EFCC of acting a script.
He said his principal, was out of the country, never disguised when he embarked on the foreign trip.
The commissioner said the governor has made it public that he would relocate to his U.S. residence at the end of his tenure.
“Nigerians were dismayed that the EFCC went a new low on Wednesday, November 24, 2021, when it sponsored media reports claiming that it has placed Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State on its watch list. The EFCC provided no details of how Governor Obiano has been placed on its watch list but made a reference to a letter it purportedly wrote on November 15, 2021, to the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) asking it to inform the anti-graft agency anytime the governor is travelling out of the country,” Adinuba stated.
Meanwhile, in a letter to the Nigeria Immigration Service, the anti-graft agency had demanded that Obiano’s movement be monitored.
In the letter addressed to the Comptroller General of Immigration, the EFCC requested to be informed anytime Obiano was travelling out of the country from any of the international airports, as well as other points of entry and exit.
