Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki
By Victory Oghene
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested the Accountant General of Edo State, Julius Anelu, and other government officials over last minute withdrawals of N10.6 billion from government coffers.
Anelu and other officials were arrested on Friday for alleged withdrawals of huge sums of money from the state’s account.
Sources squealed that out of N24.6bn paid into the government’s account, about N14bn was left within one week after the money was deposited some weeks back.
The source added that the EFCC acted to save the state and not to ground its activities as being peddled.
“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“The amounts withdrawn were huge sums.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, N 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.
Efforts to get the EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, proved abortive as calls to his line were not answered.
He has yet to respond to a message sent to him on the matter.
Edo State governor-elect, Senator Monday Okpebholo, had accused the Obaseki administration ‘of last-minute borrowings and looting.’
In a statement he issued on October 16, Okpebholo, called on relevant authorities including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, police and Department of State Services to investigate the allegations.
