BREAKING : EFCC arrests sacked NIMASA boss

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested the immediate past
Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency [NIMASA],
Patrick Ziakede Akpobolokemi, two weeks after he was fired from his post.

A source in NIMASA told PREMIUM TIMES Mr. Akpobolokemi was arrested in Lagos
Thursday morning and was detained at the Lagos office of the EFCC in the Ikoyi area of
the city.
“He was taken in this morning around 10 a.m.,” the NIMASA insider said. “Some of our
other officials have also been summoned while EFCC operatives have been conducting
discreet investigation here. There is tension everywhere.
“One of our people just returned from EFCC and he told me the former DG is still there,
sweating profusely as he was being questioned by investigators.”
Our source said while at NIMASA headquarters, EFCC operatives asked questions about
some curious multibillion naira transactions approved by Mr. Akpobolokemi, especially
during the dying days of the last administration.
“For instance, they wanted to know how a whooping N13 billion was spent on the
acquisition of land for the permanent site of the Nigerian Maritime University in Delta,”
our source said.
“They also asked about other transactions they believed were fraudulent, including
transfers of millions of dollars from NIMASA accounts to other accounts.”
The spokesperson for the EFCC could not be reached for comments. He did not
answer multiple calls as well as a text message to his telephone.
But an official in the prosecution unit of the EFCC in Lagos confirmed that Mr.
Akpobolokemi was brought into the complex on Thursday morning.
“I’m aware he is with us but I don’t have details about the case against him or what
investigators are asking him,” said the official, who cannot be named because he has
no permission to speak to journalists on the matter.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on July 16 sacked Mr. Akpobolokemi and directed
him to immediately hand over all government property in his possession and vacate
office.
There have been several allegations of financial impropriety against NIMASA during Mr.
Akpobolokemi’s tenure, including those which suggested the agency funded the lavish
lifestyles of some Niger Delta militants and bankrolled most of the hate campaigns
against Mr. Buhari in the run-up to the 2015 elections.
In 2012, the Fiscal Responsibility Commission, accused the maritime agency of failing
to render its audited accounts from 2007 to 2011.