Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has released the outgoing governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano, and his wife, Ebelechukwu Obiano, from detention.
News Central reported the former governor was arrested on Thursday night on his way out of Nigeria.
Obiano had on Thursday completed his two-term tenure of eight years in office as Anambra governor and handed over to Governor Chukwuma Soludo.
The former governor who had been on the Commission’s watchlist was arrested at the Murtala Mohammad International Airport Lagos at about 8:30pm as he prepared to board a flight to Houston, USA.
While going through immigration formalities, officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) informed him that there was an instruction to stop, arrest and hand him over to the EFCC.
Obiano reportedly reached for his bag and whipped out a court order stopping the EFCC from arresting him. The DSS officials were said to have advised Obiano to present the order to the anti-graft agency instead.
The secret police immediately informed EFCC officials who were on hand to take him into detention.
It was the end of a dramatic day in the life of the former banker, whose wife was apparently involved in altercations with Bianca Ojukwu at the inauguration.
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”.
Reacting to the development, Don Adinuba, the state commissioner for information at the time, said the issue between the governor and the EFCC was orchestrated by persons in high places who “unsuccessfully canvassed for emergency rule” in the state during the build-up to the November 2021 gubernatorial race.