Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State has told the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that he will relocate to the United States of America immediately after the completion of his tenure on March 17, 2022.
In a statement today, November 25, reacting to the EFCC’s threat, placing him on its watchlist, Governor Obiano promised however that he will give a scorecard of his two-term of eight year tenure before he run away.
The anti-graft agency had in a letter to the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, dated November 15, 2021, requested the service to place the governor on watch list and inform it anytime he was travelling out of the country from any of the international airports and other points of entry and exit.
The governor’s statement on Thursday signed by the Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr C Don Adinuba, the government said there was no doubt that the governor would leave the country after his tenure as he had always announced, but insisted that Governor Obiano was ready to account for his years in office.
The statement goes thus: “Governor Obiano is out of the country currently. And he travelled through one of the country’s international airports. He did not disguise himself, but rather left the country with his identity fully disclosed at the necessary immigration point.
“Chief Obiano has never left any persons in doubt that he will relocate to his base in the United States once he finishes his tenure. As early as Wednesday, March 4, 2020, he announced his decision to a meeting of the Anambra State Council of Elders.”
He said the action of the commission is being engineered by the same people who wanted to impose a state of emergency on Anambra, saying that the move was in retaliation of the defeat of their ambition to take Anambra at all cost.
He said: “Nigerians were dismayed that the EFCC went to a new low on Wednesday, November 24, 2021, when it sponsored media reports claiming that it had placed Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State on its watch list.
“The EFCC provided no details of how Governor Obiano has been placed on its watch list, but made a reference to a letter it purportedly wrote on November 15, 2021, to the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) asking it to inform the anti-graft agency anytime the governor is travelling out of the country.
“Everything that can be wrong with politically motivated statements like this one is obviously wrong with this statement. The EFCC knows full well that it is acting inelegantly in this instance, and so has tried as much as possible not to make an official public statement on the alleged placing of Chief Obiano on the watch list. It furtively gave a section of the media the news report it wrote based on ostensibly its letter to NIS on November 15.”
