Edo State Accountant General, Julius Anelu
By Lucky Ejiro
The Edo State Accountant General, Julius Anelu, has spent his first night in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over last minute withdrawals of N10.6billion from the state derivation account.
He was arrested with two other government officials.
The development comes as Senator Monday Okpebholo, had accused the Obaseki administration “of last-minute borrowings and looting.”
Quoting an impeccable source in the EFCC, PUNCH reports that of N24.6billion paid into the government’s account, N14billion was left within one week after the money was deposited some weeks back.
“We made some arrests of about two to three persons, including the Accountant General of the state. We have been investigating the governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki, since 2022 but this latest arrest was as a result of some withdrawals from the state’s derivation account.
“The amounts withdrawn were huge sums. For instance, about some weeks ago, N24.6bn was paid into that account. But in less than one week, about N14bn was remaining in the account. To save the state, we had to quickly move. We are not in any way doing that to ground the state activities”, said the source.
The EFCC is yet to officially react to the development as of the time of this report.
