EFCC set to probe Akpobolokemi, Former director-General, NIMASA

EFCC set to probe ex-NIMASA boss, others

Akpobolokemi, Former director-General, NIMASA

 

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) looks set to probe the more than four-year tenure of the former Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi.
Already, some officials of the agency were said to have stormed NIMASA’s Procurement Department, where they have been since last Monday, scrutinising some financial transactions and other classified documents.
It was gathered from highly reliable sources that some officials of NIMASA in sensitive units have been undergoing some grilling in the hands of EFCC personnel.
Meanwhile, the sacked Director General, Akpobolokemi and NIMASA’s Director of Shipping Development, Captain Warredi Enisuoh, were asked by the anti-graft body to appear before it yesterday to explain their roles in the agency’s alleged questionable spending.
Recall that on the eve of the last general election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) had accused the leadership of the agency of sponsoring many of the hate campaigns in the media against the party and its presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
Consequently, the party, which had described NIMASA as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ATM, was at a press conference handed a 21-day ultimatum by Akpobolokemi to withdraw the allegation, a threat APC bluffed but rather urged him to proceed to the law courts, where it would prove its case with documents.
Meanwhile, with the emergence of former Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Haruna Baba Jauro as acting Director General of the agency, some changes have been effected in some departments.
In the Public Relations Department, for example, Hajia Lami Tumaka has taken over from Isichei Osamgbi, who has held sway in the past two years as Deputy Director, Public Relations (DDPR).
Tumaka, a Deputy Director, had handed over to same Osamgbi when she was relieved of her headship of the department.
The former DG, Akpobolokemi, had, Tuesday, July 21, handed over to the agency’s Executive Director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services, Barrister Calistus Nwabueze Obi, a development that sparked a big protest among the other two most senior officers, all executive directors.
Immediately after the handover, the agency’s former Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Jauro, was said to have formally lodged a protest against Akpobolokemi at the Ministry of Transport and Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, claiming that he was the rightful person to be handed over to and not Obi.
The protest led to the reversal of the appointment as Jauro was on Friday, July 24, announced as the Acting Director General of NIMASA.