Twelve days to the end of Governor Godwin Obaseki’s eight years in Edo State, the state Accountant General, Mr Julius Anelu and four officials of the government have allegedly been arrested by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC.
It was gathered that the officials were allegedly arrested for being signatories to the state government’s accounts.
A source within the agency said the staff were being held at the Benin zonal office of the agency.
The sources added that they were arrested on Thursday after they had been called in for a briefing.
It was also learned that officials of the agency have said that they intend to keep the arrested staff till November 12, on the day of the termination of the tenure of the outgoing governor of Edo State.
The arrest of the officials was alleged to have halted government activities as emoluments due to civil servants, pensions, and other public servants have not been paid.
It was also gathered that other statutory payments such as security bills and other obligations were affected by the arrest.
When contacted for confirmation, EFCC spokesman in the Benin Zonal office in Edo State, Williams Oseghale, simply directed our reporter to the Commission’s spokesman, Dele Oyewale.
However, Oyewale, when contacted on phone, replied through a Short Messaging Service asking newsmen to send a text message.
But as at the time of filing this report, Oyewale was yet to respond to the message sent to his phone.
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