EFCC arrests Buhari’s appointee over alleged $35m fraud

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has arrested the former Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Timber Kesiye Wabote, over alleged misappropriation of $35 million linked to the Brass Project.

EFCC announced the arrest on Wednesday.

Wabote, who served as the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB from 2016 to 2023, is being investigated over funds provided for the development of an Energy Infrastructure Park in Okpoama Community, Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

The project, financed with counterpart funding from the NCDMB, was intended to include a 2,000-barrel-per-day (BPD) refinery, a jetty, gas and power plants, a data centre and a tank farm.

The EFCC alleged that $35 million paid to Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited for the project had been misappropriated.

The company, led by its Managing Director, Akintoye Adeoye Akindele, reportedly abandoned the project, leaving little progress despite receiving full payment in December 2020.

Wabote was detained after further questioning, and his travel documents were seized to prevent potential evasion of justice. EFCC operatives also searched his residence in Abuja.

“We decided to detain him in view of the evidence against him. His passport has also been seized pending the conclusion of investigations,” an EFCC source told The Nation.