A former Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, is seeking the release of his international passport held by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to enable him travel abroad for medical treatment.
Sources within the anti-graft agency said the former governor visited the commission’s office on Awolowo Road, Lagos, as part of efforts to retrieve his travel document to enable him to attend to medical issues abroad.
The former governor was quizzed on November 4, 2024, and subsequently questioned at the Port Harcourt zonal directorate of the commission.
A source familiar with the development, said the former governor’s visit to the Lagos office was connected to ongoing discussions regarding the release of his passport.
“No, he was not arrested; he was at the commission’s Lagos office as part of the ongoing investigation into his case.
“Also, he made moves to secure the release of his international passport to attend to some medical issues abroad,” one of the sources said.
However, it was not immediately clear whether the former governor succeeded in obtaining the document.
Efforts to get the reaction of the EFCC were unsuccessful as the commission’s spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, did not respond to calls placed to his telephone line as of the time of filing this report.
The EFCC has retained the international passport of Okowa since his arrest on November 4, 2024, over allegations of diverting N1.3 trillion from 13 percent derivation funds received by the state from the federation account between 2015 and 2023.
The anti-graft agency is also investigating allegations that Okowa failed to account for the funds and another N40 billio, allegedly used to acquire shares in UTM Floating Liquefied Natural Gas and a major commercial bank.
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He was arrested in Port Harcourt and later granted bail after meeting the conditions set by the commission.
The allegations remain under investigation by the EFCC, while the former governor denied the allegations after he was released.
“To successfully take N1.3 trillion, it means you have to be taking between N16 billion and N20 billion every month into your pocket.
“I don’t even know if the president of this country will be able to do that, not to talk of the governor of Delta State.
“They have forgotten that the first three years we came into office – 2015, 2016 and 2017 – the money that was coming into the state was not even enough to pay salaries at all,” he said then.
Efforts to get his reactions through one of his associates, Charles Aniagwu, failed.
