FORMER Akwa Ibom State military administrator retired Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over his role in a $115m bribery scandal involving ex-petroleum minister Diezani Alison-Madueke.
Air Commodore Nkanga was the military administrator between September 1990 and January 1992 during the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, handing over to an elected civilian Governor at the start of the Nigerian Third Republic. In May 2001 he was a member of the board of directors of the Cooperative Development Bank and in 2002 sought to be candidate for the Nigeria Democratic Party (NDP) in the 2003 governorship elections.
Yesterday, Air Commodore Nkanga was arrested by the EFCC for his alleged role in the $115m bribe scandal after it was discovered that the money was converted to N23bn and he received N450m of it through Fidelity Bank. According to the EFCC, Air Commodore Nkanga would be charged to court soon.
“He was arrested in Port- Harcourt, Rivers State on Monday. Nkanga was alleged to have collected the money in two tranches from an employee of Fidelity Bank in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Mr Saint- Anthony Ejiowu.
“The first tranche of the money, a sum of N350m was collected on March 27, 2015 while the second tranche of N100m was collected on March 31, 2015. Nkanga signed for the two tranches," the EFCC source added.
Last week, the EFCC arrested the managing director of Fidelity Bank Emeka Okonkwo, for his alleged role in the scam. It is believed that the money in question was said to have been used in bribing officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
In October last year, Ms Alison-Madueke was arrested by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) along with four others and arraigned in court. She was granted bail but a sum of £27,000 in cash was seized from her.
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