Wednesday, October 28, 2015

EFCC Grills Abuja-based Lawyer Who Accused Akpabio Of Fraud


Leo Ekpeyong, an Abuja-based lawyer and activist who wrote a petition against a former governor of Akwa Ibom state, Senator Godswill Akpabio was grilled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday, October 26.

Ekpeyong was said to have been invited by the EFCC to make clarifications on the allegations he raised against Akpabio in the petition, Punch reports.

Wilson Uwujaren, the head of media and publicity of the EFCC, said Ekpeyong was only invited to the commission to shed more light on the petition he wrote against the former Akwa Ibom governor.
The man was not arrested. It would not also be right to use the word grilled. He was only invited to shed more light on the petition,” he said.

A source at the commission disclosed that the Abuja-based lawyer was delayed at the commission because of the huge volume of petition he sent which would take time to deal with.

A petition was forwarded to the ant-graft commission and President Muhammadu Buhari in June by the lawyer and activist over an alleged theft of N108.1 billion of Akwa Ibom funds.
In the petition, Ekpeyong had accused Akpabio of massive diversion of funds of the Akwa Ibom state government when he was governor of the state.

Following the petition against him, Akpabio, who is currently the Senate minority leader was invited and grilled by the EFCC at about 5pm on Friday, October 16. He was later released but asked to return to the commission the next day when he was interrogated for hours.

Senator Akpabio admitted that he was summoned by the anti-graft body to respond to several allegations of corruption against him stressing that he was not arrested but only honoured the commission’s invitation on his own free will.

The former governor is now awaiting further action on the case from the anti-graft body.

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