Governor Amaechi

The Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC has arrested the Secretary to the River State Government, Mr. Magnus Abbe and the Chief of Staff to Governor Rotimi Amaechi, Mr. Nyeson Wike over the N300 Million allegedly found in an illegal account operated by the Chief of Staff.

The detention of the two men was sequel to “useful information” they gave to officials of the EFCC who spent hours interrogating them.

The illegal account opened at a Zenith Bank branch in Port Harcourt in March 2008 with account number 601-091-6587 suddenly grew in cash running into N300 Million within few months. The flow of cash in the account which had Harrison Ba. Princewill as account owner attracted the curious minds of investigators who quickly began finding out about the ownership of the account.

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Sensing danger, the Chief of Staff, Mr. Wike in connivance with other River State officials quickly rushed to the Zenith bank branch and converted the hitherto personal account into State Government account with account number 602-500-4949 and Harrison Ba Princewill suddenly became the depositor of the new account.

Sources within the EFCC hinted Pointblanknews.com that the arrested Rivers State officials may be charged to court.

Meanwhile, the River State Government has acknowledged that two of its officials have been interrogated and detained by the EFCC. A Statement by the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Ogbonna Nwike said “We wish to acknowledge that two officials of the River State Government have been detained by the EFCC.

“As a Government that assured our people and indeed all Nigerians of our resolve to run a transparent, accountable and open Government, we have decided to be the first to acknowledge what has happened. We believe that our people who gave mandate to this administration have a right to know the truth.”

“In the meantime we are watching the development and we want to assure all Nigerians that we will do nothing to interfere with ongoing investigations by the EFCC even though we do not know where these allegations are coming from. Our assumption for now is that the allegation or allegations might be politically motivated.”