Ex-NIMASA DG, Akpobolokemi Quizzed By EFCC Over Alleged Multibillion Naira Fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has picked up the immediate past Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Patrick Ziakede Akpobolokemi, about two weeks after he was sacked by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The former NIMASA boss was reportedly picked up by the commission’s operatives in Lagos Thursday morning and taken to the EFCC office in the Ikoyi area of the city.
According to an official of NIMASA, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES, “He was taken in this morning around 10 a.m. 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”.
The 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 whopping 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”.
However, an aide of Akpobolokemi said: “The ex-DG of NIMASA personally went to EFCC to honour the invitation of the commission. He was not arrested as being insinuated.
“Also, as I speak, he has given full cooperation to the EFCC on the allegations against him. I am aware that these allegations are baseless. They arose from internal politics in NIMASA”.

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