Tell a Tale

F ormer  Ebonyi State governor, Chief Martins Elechi, yesterday on the second day of his questioning in Abuja, faced more than eight hours of rigorous grilling in the hands of  operatives of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over alleged laundering of state funds. The former governor arrived the EFCC headquarters at 10am and faced his interrogators until 4pm when he was asked to go and return on a date next week. A source at the commission confirmed to Vanguard that the politician might be charged to court based on the evidence adduced by his interrogators and those earlier gathered from some top officials who served under his government. The questioning of the governor had to do with a number of deals said to have been carried out during his tenure for which concerned natives of the state petitioned the anti-graft agency and demanded for probe. Among the issues for which he was summoned were the alleged theft of millions of Naira in the asphalt plant ...

Timipre Sylva A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday dismissed the N19.2bn fraud charges instituted against a former governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva. This came nine days after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission dropped six counts of N2.45bn against him. Justice Ahmed Mohammed, by Wednesday ruling on a notice of preliminary objection filed by Sylva, dismissed the N19.2bn charges as an abuse of court process. This brought to an end all pending EFCC cases against the former governor. The judge held on Wednesday that the N19.2bn charge instituted against Sylva by the EFCC was an abuse of court process since it was based on the same set of transactions involved in the N2.45bn charge that was recently dropped. Justice Evoh Chukwu of the same Federal High Court in Abuja had on June 1, 2015, struck out the six counts of N2.45bn charges, after the EFCC filed and moved an application withdrawing them. But Justice Mohammed also held on Wednesday that the EF...

The Inspector General of Police, IG, Mr Solomon Arase has been told to caution his senior police officers, who represent him on occasions and make embarrassing statements and comments that are being credited to him, as some of their comments would ordinarily not represent the IG’s opinion or position. Reacting to the comment that “The police has the least number of corrupt officers of all institutions in the country” made by the Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory,Mr. Wilson Inalegwu, which was credited to the IG,  a rights group, Human Rights and Justice Advocates, HRJA, said that the Nigerian Police has the highest number of corrupt officers of all the institutions in the country, contrary to their claim. According to the national Coordinator of HRJA, Mr. Anthony Ogomegbulam,  “In as much as the new IG is a fine and respected police officer who has records of good conduct, as he rose from ranks to become IG, he should not allow the officers he delegates...

ABUJA—The Inspector General of Police, IGP Solomon Arase has declared that the Nigerian Police, has the least corrupt officers of all the institutions in the country, even as the Police is determined to follow up any corrupt cases before it in accordance with constitutional provisions. Speaking at the annual symposium during a Feast of Barracuda organised by the National Association of Seadogs, the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase noted that the Police had made frantic efforts in tackling corruption even among the officers and had set in motion machinery to fish out corrupt officers in the force. The IGP, who was represented by the Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Wilson Inalegwu said that the practical step to deal with corruption was to dismantle road blocks by Police and the establishment of Monitoring Teams to ensure compliance across the country. He said: “The IG said he is allergic to corruption and since then he has taken practic...