Obiano, who was first detained at the EFCC facility in Lagos after his arrest Thursday night, was flown to Abuja with the first flight early Friday morning.
By Eugene Onyeji
There has been a leaked trending short video of former Anambra Governor Willie Obiano in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s detention.
The viral video has since elicited reactions, with many Nigerians denouncing it and demanding an investigation into its leakage into the social media space.
In the 12-second clip that has gone viral across social media platforms, Mr Obiano, who was dressed in shorts and a white shirt, was seen sipping water from a bottle in a closed room presumed to be in EFCC custody.
He was also discussing with an unidentified person in the video.
It was not clear if the ex-governor would be admitted to administrative bail or charged to court early.
Read Also: EXCLUSIVE: We don’t know how long Obiano will be in detention – EFCC
Recall Willie Obiano was arrested by EFCC on Thursday night at the Lagos airport, shortly after handing over to the new governor of Anambra state, Prof Chukwuma Soludo.
He was billed to fly to Houston Texas in the United States of America where he was living before he became governor.
Obiano, who was detained at the EFCC facility in Lagos, was flown to Abuja with the first flight early Friday morning.
Obiano has been on the EFCC watchlist since November last year, when the agency requested the Nigeria Immigration Service to provide information on his movement out of the country from airports, or other points of exit.
The EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, said, “Obiano has been flown to Abuja (on Friday). He is currently at our Abuja office.
“Obiano was arrested for alleged misappropriation of public funds, including, N5 billion Sure-P and N37 billion security vote which was withdrawn in cash. Part of the funds was also allegedly diverted to finance political activities in the state.”
But some Nigerians have denounced what they called EFCC’s penchant for media trial.
While not condoning corruption, they are decrying what they see as EFCC’s crude way of fighting the menace.
“Let me first state clearly that I do not condone corruption by anyone, more so, by elected public officials entrusted with public funds,” said one Ephraim Okeke on Facebook.
“But I make bold to say that Obiano did not steal as much as a former governor of Lagos State and indeed many other governors from other parts of Nigeria.
“Soon, one of those thieves may become Nigeria’s president. It seems that the Civil War is still being fought on other fronts. Any wonder why things remain the same even as they change?”
Reacting to Okeke’s post, another commentator said, “I share the sentiment expressed here. EFCC is very irresponsible to do this. It’s not about one governor stealing more than another but humiliating someone who has not been convicted of any crime. This is just unacceptable and I don’t know why anybody can celebrate this official recklessness.”
Joining in the debate, one Rotimi Adeniyi wrote, “I never met Obiano in the eight years he was governor. I am not even Igbo and from what I have read and heard about him, he is not even my kind of person, I must confess.
“But EFCC’s penchant to convict people in the court of public opinion even before they conclude investigations is irresponsible.
“That is why they hardly win cases against the high and mighty who have the wherewithal to hire good lawyers because rather than painstakingly building their cases against those accused of corruption, they are busy playing to the gallery.
“They can only secure convictions against low level Yahoo Yahoo Boys. If Obiano abused his office, he should suffer the consequences. But not this way. This leaked video will come back to haunt the EFCC.
“You can see that rather than attracting the intending opprobrium against the former governor, some people are even beginning to sympathise with him, asking if this is vendetta.