Obiano granted bail but yet to fulfil conditions – EFCC

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, says the agency has granted bail to immediate past governor of Anambra, Willie Obiano.

Bawa said this on Monday while answering questions from journalists at the fifth annual general assembly of the Network of National Anti-corruption institutions in West Africa (NACIWA), in Abuja.

“He (referring to Obiano) has been granted bail. We are waiting for him to fulfil his bail conditions. He has been cooperating with us and everything is going on well,” the EFCC chairman said.

Obiano was taken into custody hours after he attended the inauguration of Chukuwuma Soludo as governor of Anambra, on Thursday.

The former governor, who ended his tenure on Wednesday, was arrested at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

Subsequently, he was transferred from the EFCC custody in Lagos to Abuja.

In September 2021, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra asked the anti-graft agency to probe the finances of the state in order to unearth “monumental deception”.

Speaking further, the EFCC chairman said the arrest of Obiano is not “political”, adding that the commission was only carrying out its mandate, which involved investigation of financial crimes.

Bawa refused to comment on when the former Anambra governor will be charged to court and the bail conditions stipulated by the EFCC.

“There is nothing political about it. We are a penal institution. You know what the EFCC stands for. We investigate crimes; we look at people who have committed the crimes, we link it up together and of course we go to court. That is what we have been doing. That is all we will continue to do,” he added.