TheCable

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says Willie Obiano, immediate past governor of Anambra, has not been released from its custody but transferred to Abuja.

TheCable had reported that Obiano was taken into custody hours after he attended the inauguration of Chukuwuma Soludo as governor of Anambra, on Thursday.

The former governor, who ended his tenure on Wednesday, was arrested at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos

TheCable understands Obiano tried to use a court order to stop his arrest at the Lagos airport.

On Friday, some media reports claimed that the former Anambra governor and his wife, Ebelechukwu have been released by the EFCC.

Speaking with TheCable, Wilson Uwujaren, spokesman of the anti-graft agency, said the former governor has been transferred to Abuja and he is still in custody.

Asked to state where Obiano was transferred to in Abuja, Uwujaren refused to comment on the specific location the former governor was taken to.

Asked if Obiano’s wife was transferred to Abuja alongside his husband, the spokesperson said he only has information about the former governor and not his wife.

“That is fake news. The governor is still with us. He has been transferred to Abuja.”

In September 2021, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra had asked the anti-graft agency to probe the finances of the state in order to unearth “monumental deception”.

Basil Ejidike, Anambra APC chairman, had alleged that Obiano was “fraudulently” using the state’s security vote.

But reacting to the development, Don Adinuba, the state commissioner for information at the time, said the issue between the governor and the EFCC was masterminded by persons in high places who “unsuccessfully canvassed for emergency rule” in the state during the build-up to the November 2021 governorship election.