The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested and detained the former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Nsima Ekere, for alleged diversion of funds to the tune of N47 billion through registered contractors of the agency.
The Spokesperson of the EFCC, Wilson Uwajaren, confirmed the arrest on Wednesday night.
Ekere, who contested for the governorship seat in Akwa Ibom State in the 2019 elections on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was the MD of the NDDC between 2017 and 2018.
Sources with direct knowledge of the case said that Ekere was detained after he surrendered himself at the Commission’s office in Lagos State on Wednesday.
A source said, “Mr Ekere has been under investigation for years. He surrendered himself for arrest on Wednesday after realising that the Commission was closing in on him.”
The source said the 56-year-old is being investigated over allegations of contract inflation and the award of fictitious contracts during his time in office adding that he allegedly committed the offences starting in 2017, by laundering funds from NDDC accounts through contractors to buy choice properties in Lagos.
