Obiano Must Account for N42b SURE-P and Security Funds- EFCC

Following his arrest on Thursday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the former Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano has been asked by the commission to give amount of the combined N42 billion cash that was given to the State as security and SURE-P cash.

A source in the EFCC said the diversion of said public funds by the former Governor was the main reason for his arrest on Thursday night, when he tried but failed to escape to Houston, Texas.

The source added that N37 billion of the total was meant for security votes and another N5 billion for the now abandoned Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P). The funds, the source said, were diverted by Obiano for political events he organised in the state.

“The former governor had schemed effectively to escape to the United State with the positioning of a private jet at the Anambra International Airport to ferry him away from the state shortly after handing over to the new governor,” a reliable source said.

“But unknown to the former governor, security operatives had also been monitoring the private jet and his movements from the Awka Airport up to his arrival at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos.

“The truth is that as soon as the private jet conveying Obiano and his wife, left Awka for Lagos, a coordinated alert was triggered to the relevant security agencies to be on the watch out for the former governor.

“Chief Obiano, who was billed to fly direct to the U.S with his wife on a Delta Airlines flight that night, was however stopped from flying and the airline promptly notified of his unavailability to fly so as not to unduly delay the international flight.