EFCC arraigns ex-militant leader Tompolo in absentia over N47.6bn fraud

Despite the disappearance of former Niger Delta militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo better know as Tompolo, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned him in absentia on Monday, April 18. He was arraigned 22 counts of N47.6billon fraud before a Federal High Court in Lagos alongside six brothers of the embattled former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Patrick Akpobolokemi, who are also at large.

The six accused were identified as Igo, Julius, Victor, Norbert, Emmanuel and Clement.
But, according to Punch, Akpobolokemi, two females – Josephine Otuaga and Rita Uruakpa, and one Kime Engozu, who were also listed as defendants in the amended charge, were present in court to answer to the charges which bordered on conspiracy, advanced fee fraud and money laundering.
The other defendants in the charge were five companies, namely: Mieka Dive Training Institute Ltd/GTE; Oyeinteke Global Network Limited; Wabod Global Resources Ltd.; Boloboere Properties Estate Ltd.; Gokaid Marine Oil and Gas Ltd.; and Watershed Associated Resources.The EFCC alleged that the defendants conspired to defraud the Federal Government between December 2, 2014 and April 10, 2015, by inducing it to deliver an aggregate sum of N11.9billion to them.
The anti-graft agency also claimed that the accused persons induced the Federal Government by “falsely pretending to the Federal Government that a parcel of land and its appurtenances situated at Mieka Dive Training Institute, Kurutie, Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State had been acquired by NIMASA for the temporary campus of the Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko.”
Akpobolokemi and his alleged accomplices pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The presiding judge, Justice Ibrahim Buba, however admitted them to bail.
Akpobolokemi, who had earlier been arraigned along with others by the EFCC at two different times before Justice Buba, was allowed to continue with a bail granted him by the judge on March 22, 2016.
The case was adjourned till May 30 and 31, 2016.