Date Published: 12/06/09

$3.1 Million Scam: Governor Akpabio moves to stop investigation

Governor Godswill Akpabio

Indications have emerged that Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom state has begun moves to scuttle investigations into the 3.1 million US dollars recently seized from a deputy general manager of bank PHB, Mrs. Emem Etuk, at the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed International airport, Lagos.

Following a tip-off, Etuk, whose husband is Akpabio’s special assistant on Utilities, was arrested by airport security men in early November while attempting to board an Abuja-bound Arik flight with a case containing $3.1 million. She was promptly handed over to the police, who later referred the matter to their headquarters in Abuja.

Upon interrogation, Etuk who initially reportedly refused to disclose the source of the money, was said to have later confessed that it was Akpabio’s “profit” from one of the state government’s monies lodged in the governor’s personal account. Etuk, according to police sources, changed the “profit” totaling about N465 million into US dollars “for ease of handling.” She was to have handed the money over to Governor Akpabio in Abuja.

Police sources disclosed that since Etuk’s movement to Abuja for “further investigations,” tremendous pressure was being mounted by the embattled governor to let Etuk off the hook. Akpabio even reportedly approached bank PHB to assume responsibility for the seized money the same way an Anambra businessman assumed ownership of N500 million when aides of the state governor, Mr. Peter Obi, were arrested in Lagos earlier in the year with the hefty sum.

The sources said that, much as bank PHB would have loved to play ball, they were however at pains with the strategy. According to one of the bank officials, “ how do we explain what madam (Etuk) was doing with $3.1 million in cash in the light of recent happenings in the banking industry.”

“We told the governor how sorry we were about the incident, and that there was not much we can do. We even advised his people to use their contacts with the Presidency to see if the matter can be kept from the EFCC, while a political solution was being explored,” the police officer quoted a top official of the bank as saying.

Akpabio has been reportedly moving in and out of Abuja since the arrest, and, according to close sources, deployed one Sylvester Okonkwo, a long-time associate and front from Anambra State, to see to it that the matter dies a natural death. Okonkwo is said to be miffed that his friend Akpabio failed to learn any lessons from a former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, who is “in trouble for entrusting his loot to that Udoamaka Okoronkwo woman.”

Another police source said they were investigating the link between Arik air and the governor, claiming it was too much of a coincidence that “Governor Akpabio was getting too close to Arik, the same airline that launched the new airport, and the same airline that was to have ferried the governor’s loot to Abuja.”

Governor Akpabio has been locked in a bitter war with his predecessor in office, Obong Victor Attah. Both men have relentlessly traded attacks in private and in the media. While Attah has constantly accused Akpabio of mismanaging the state’s resources, the later counters that Attah is merely being jealous of his “tremendous achievements.”

There is no love lost between Akpabio and some of his colleague-governors in the South-south region, particularly Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers and Liyel Imoke of neighbouring Cross River State over disputed oil wells.

About 170 oil wells were recently ceded Akwa-Ibom by the National Boundary Commission (NBC), with sources close to the commission alleging that Akpabio parted with as much as N500 million to get the commission “listen to him.” The move by the National Boundary Commission catapulted Akwa-Ibom to tilt the scales as the one of the top state in terms of monthly revenue allocation.

The status of Akwa-Ibom’s oil wells is however being challenged at the Supreme Court by Rivers and Cross River States.