The interrogation of the Senate Minority Leader, Senators Godswill Akpabio, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission entered its second day on Saturday.
Akpabio is being quizzed for actions he took while serving as governor of Akwa Ibom State.
The ex-two-term governor spent the greater part of Saturday in the custody of the anti-graft agency.
He stepped into the EFCC headquarters at 11:00am and was still answering questions from operatives of the agency as of 7:55pm.
The Economic Governance Unit of the EFCC had invited Akpabio for interrogation in respect to allegations of massive diversion of funds belonging to the Akwa Ibom State Government.
The allegation against the erstwhile governor was contained in a series of petitions written by an Abuja-based lawyer, Mr. Leo Ekpeyong, and other indigenes of the state.
Akpabio, who first honoured the EFCC’s invitation on Friday, was grilled for several hours and was released on administrative bail with an understanding that he was to make himself available to the commission any time he is invited.
It was based on this understanding that Akpabio presented himself for another round of interrogation on Saturday.
Akpabio arrived at the Idiagbon House Headquarters of the EFCC at 11:00am and was ushered into the interrogation room of the commission where a crack team of operatives from the EGU received him.
“Akpabio arrived at the commission around 11 am and he is still being interrogated by our operatives as we are talking now.”
The source said the EFCC invited Akpabio for interrogation in September 2015 but had to stay action on the interrogation because of an auto crash the Senate Leader was involved in on August 31.
Following the road mishap, the former Governor was temporarily admitted at the National Hospital, Abuja but later flown to the United Kingdom for further treatment.
The petitioner alleged that the former Governor diverted public funds to acquire a string of properties for personal use.
According to the petitioner, Akpabio acquired a total of 44 luxury flats, registered in the name of Prince Ukpong Akpabio’ at Woji, Port Harcourt among others.
Our correspondent who visited the Commission’s Headquarters observed that there was little or no activity outside the agency’s building while the Senate Minority Leader was being grilled.
None of the former governor’s aides or known close associates was in sight.
Findings by SUNDAY PUNCH showed that the operatives who were armed with information extracted from officials of the Akwa Ibom State Government, who were earlier interrogated, confronted Akpabio with a stock pile of documents detailing accounts through which some of the alleged fraudulent activities were conducted.
The commission had earlier interrogated some of the state’s officials who served during Akpabio’s tenure as governor.
Some of those interrogated include: the former State Commissioner for Finance, the Accountant General of the State, the former Auditor General, a former Accounts Officer in the Akwa Ibom Government House Uyo, and some personnel from the Treasury Department of the state.
It was further learnt that the officials were summoned to appear with vouchers of expenditure and other expenses which were said to be used in the interrogation.
The interrogation of the Akwa Ibom commissioners and officials under Akpabio took place in August 2015.
It was further gathered that Akpabio was to appear before the commission on August 27, 2015 but he travelled out of the country to the United States.
A top operative of the commission who confided in our correspondent said that while Akpabio was still at the EFCC by 7.55pm, he would not be detained overnight.
He said, “I can tell you that the former Governor is still with us; the operatives doing the job are all here. It is a painstaking process.
“I don’t think there are plans to keep him overnight. He would be released on administrative bail.”
Attempts to get an official reaction from senators especially members of the Peoples Democratic Party did not yield any result as none of those contacted was willing to comment.
National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, could not be reached for comments as he was said to have joined other party officials for a condolence visit to Bayelsa State.
When contacted, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Abdullahi Jalo, promised to call back but had yet to do so as at the time of filling this report.
Repeated calls to his mobile phone were neither picked nor returned.
A response to a text message sent to him was still being awaited as at the time of filing this report.
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