N23bn fraud through Diezani: EFCC arrests 2 Enugu commissioners

Charles Egumgbe and Rita Mba, Enugu state commissioners for water resources and tourism, respectively have been arrested by the The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

According to PUNCH, the commissioners were arrested in connection to a $115 million (N23 billion) allegedly disbursed by Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum resources, in the run-up to the 2015 general election.

Egumgbe and Mba were the chairman and secretary, respectively, for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign in the state during the 2015 election.

Also arrested by the EFCC was Ikeje Asogwa, the current chairman of the board of Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board.

“They were detained, they made statements and they were later released on bail,” Johnson Babalola, the EFCC zonal head, south east zone told, was quoted as telling journalists on Wednesday.

The EFCC official said Sullivan Chime, former governor of the state, had said under interrogation that when he received the sum of N450 million from Diezani, he handed it over to Mba to facilitate the campaigns.

The commission said it was still investigating how N450 million out of the N23 billion was disbursed in Abia state.