A school allegedly belonging to Unoma Akpabio, the wife of
the immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, has been
seized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
It was learnt that the seizure was part of investigations
into the former governor who has been accused of alleged N108bn fraud during
his tenure from 2007 to 2015.
One of our correspondents who visited the school, St. John
Paul II School, in Shelter Afrique, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, observed that the
school had been marked “under investigation by EFCC.”
It was learnt that the EFCC resorted to marking the school
instead of shutting it so that innocent parents and students who had paid
school fees would not be adversely affected.
The school, it was learnt, had been under the watchful eyes
of the EFCC considering the enormous amount said to have been sunk into its
construction.
Although normal academic activities were still ongoing in
the school as of Wednesday, one of our correspondents who called at the school
observed that a police van was stationed outside the gate.
A senior employee of the school, who refused to disclose his
identity, only asked one of our correspondents to observe the ambience around
the school.
He added that he was not capable to comment on any
development relating to the EFCC and the school’s proprietor.
According to him, the school is serene with normal academic
activities taking place.
The spokesman for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, could not
be reached on the telephone on Wednesday.
However, a senior operative at the commission confirmed that
the school had been seized.
“I understand our operatives were recently in Akwa Ibom and
did mark a school as ‘under investigation,’” he said.
Efforts to get Akpabio’s reaction failed as his media aide,
Mr. Anietie Ekong, failed to pick calls made to his mobile phone on Wednesday
night.
Ekong had told one of our correspondents on Tuesday that he
was not aware of the seizure and would contact his boss on the matter.
When called again on Wednesday, he neither picked his calls
nor reply a text message sent to him, asking for Akpabio’s response.
The PUNCH had exclusively reported in August 2016 that the
EFCC is intensifying investigation into the former governor and was planning to
seize his properties and freeze accounts linked to him.
The EFCC had written five banks demanding information on
Akwa Ibom State finances under Akpabio’s administration.
The commission also invited key members of the Akwa Ibom
State House of Assembly and serving commissioners many of whom served during
the ex-governor’s administration.
A source at the EFCC said, “We have written to Zenith Bank,
Keystone Bank, FCMB, Skye Bank, and UBA demanding information on the state’s
accounts. We are also inviting the accountant-general, the auditor-general, the
Speaker and the clerk of the House of Assembly.
“We have traced some houses to the former governor in Lagos
and Abuja and it is just a matter of time before we seize them.”
The EFCC had started looking into Akpabio last year when he
was first quizzed by detectives following a series of petitions written against
him.
Akpabio, who is now the Senate Minority Leader, was accused
of embezzling public funds while he was governor of the oil-rich state.
He was accused of lavish spending such that on March 2013,
he openly gave N1m each to the six chairmen of the Peoples Democratic Party
from the South-South geopolitical zone who had converged on Port Harcourt for a
party reconciliation session and told them to use the money to ‘buy Mr. Biggs’
As the commission was investigating the ex-governor, the
Akwa Ibom State Government, headed to a state High Court to get an interim
order barring the EFCC from investigating his administration.
The Justice Ntong Ntong-led court on July 15, 2016, granted
an interim injunction, restraining the EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices
and Other Related Offences Commission; and the Inspector-General of Police from
investigating the finances of the Akwa Ibom State Government.
The suit was filed on behalf of the state government by the
state Attorney General, Uwemedimo Nwoko, who also served under Akpabio and is
believed to be loyal to the former governor.
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