Former Akwa Ibom Governor Arrested Over Diezani’s $115 Million Sleaze

A former Military Administrator of Akwa Ibom State and
chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Idongesit
Nkanga, has been arrested by operatives of the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Mr. Nkanga, a retired air commodore is accused of
N450,000,000( Four Hundred and Fifty Million Naira only)
from the sleazy $115million deposited by former Minister of
Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, with Fidelity
Bank Plc.
EFCC insiders said the former governor was arrested in
Port- Harcourt, the Rivers State capital on Monday.
Sources said Mr. Nkanga was alleged to have collected the
money in two tranches, from one Saint-Anthony Ejiowu, a
staff of Fidelity Bank in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.
The first tranche of the money – N350,000,000 (Three
Hundred and Fifty Thousand Million Naira only) was paid to
the politician on March 27, 2015, our sources said.
Mr. Nkanga allegedly received the second tranche of
N100,000,000 (One Hundred Million Naira only) on March
31, 2015.
“He is in the custody of the EFCC and would be charged to
court soon,” an official told PREMIUM TIMES.
The EFCC arrested the former governor just as the Chairman
of the Independent National Electoral Commission,
Mahmood Yakubu, assured Nigerians that the Commission
will cooperate with the anti-graft agency in regarding its
personnel named in the scandal.
According to a statement by the commission’s Director,
Voters’ Education and Publicity, Oluwole Ozaze-Uzzi on
Monday, Mr. Yakubu gave the assurance during a meeting
with editors in Lagos.
“Whatever level of cooperation any of the agencies requires
of the Commission, we will give that level of cooperation
because it is also in a bid to sanitize the system,” Mr.
Yakubu was quoted as saying.
“I hope also it (investigation) will extend to the givers not
just the takers so that there will be collective sanity.
Whoever violates the law of this land and there are
questions to answer, the person should answer, the person
should bear his own cross.
“All the staff that are manipulated are individuals. It is not a
collective institutional thing. They should go and answer for
what they have alleged to have done.”
Some staff of the electoral body were alleged to have
received a cumulative N23 billion in bribe from Mrs. Alison-
Madueke, through Fidelity Bank.
Prominent among the accused INEC staff were Gesila Khan,
the Resident Electoral Commissioner who had earlier been
arrested by the State Security Service over allegations of
inducement to rig elections in Rivers State; and Uluochi Obi
Brown (INEC’s Administrative Secretary in Delta State),
former Deputy Director of INEC in Cross River state, Edem
Okon Effanga, and the Head of Voter Education in INEC in
Akwa Ibom, Immaculata Asuquo.
Also under investigation is retired INEC official, Sani Isa,
who allegedly collected bribe on behalf of the deceased
Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kano State, Mukaila
Abdullahi.
Also two unnamed former INEC chiefs were said to have
participated in aiding the flow of the bribe money.
The alleged bribery scandal involved bank chiefs, including
Sterling Bank Chief Executive, Yemi Adeola, the removed
Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, Nnamdi Okonkwo and
Access Bank Managing Director, Hubert Wigwe, who
allegedly assisted Mrs. Alison-Maduekwe in laundering part
of the fund which was allegedly handed to INEC staff in a
plot to influence outcomes of the 2015 presidential poll.
The integrity of the elections in the South-South region,
particularly Rivers State, has been questioned by many
organisations, including foreign observers and the Transition
Monitoring Group (TMG) whose report claimed results in the
oil-rich region were inflated.
A citizen group, Enough is Enough, last week filed a
Freedom of Information request asking EFCC to disclose
identities of the former INEC chiefs, all the electoral staff
and civil society organizations involved in the alleged
bribery.