EFCC Releases Former Abia State Gov After Questioning

Former Ania State Governor and the lawmaker representing Abia Central Senatorial District at the Senate, Theodore Orji, has been released after being detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Orji, the lawmaker was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on Thursday morning.

The former governor however denied being detained by the anti-corruption agency.

Orji stated that he was only accosted by operatives of the EFCC on his way to London for a routine medical check-up in London.

But the EFCC stated that the former governor is being questioned for his role in corrupt financial dealings while serving as governor between 2007 and 2015.

Confirming the lawmaker’s arrest, EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said Orji was arrested for offences bordering on misappropriation of public funds and money laundering.

Uwujaren stated that the former governor is being probed alongside his sons, Ogbonna and Chinedu, the current Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, for misappropriation of the state funds while in office.

He added that the former governor was transported to the headquarters of the EFCC at Jabi, Abuja for the continuation of his interrogation.

The EFCC spokesman disclosed that Orji, who has been on the commission’s watch list, is alleged to have mismanaged the N2billion Ecological Fund and conversion of Sure-P funds.