The Commission of Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) arrested and detained a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Patricia Etteh, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report.
Ms. Etteh, who was the Spokesperson between June 6, 2007 and October 30, 2007, was arrested in Abuja on Tuesday by officers from the anti-corruption agency’s Special Service Unit, people familiar with the matter said.
The former lawmaker is currently being questioned for allegedly receiving a suspicious payment of N130 million from a contractor to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) awarded a solar-powered electrification project in Akwa Ibom state, south-south Nigeria. .
Former rapporteur, Patricia Etteh
Said contract was awarded to Phin Jin Project Limited in 2011 for 240 million naira. It is not clear if the company is registered with the Nigerian Corporate Affairs Commission. A search for her name in the CAC online directory turned up no matches.
Investigators now say that weeks after the project mobilization fee was paid to the contractor, 130 million naira was transferred to Ms Etteh, who is neither a director nor a shareholder in the registered company.
“Paying such a huge amount to her is suspicious,” a source said. “She claims that the contractor paid a debt he owed her, but that is doubtful. So her claims are being scrutinized.
“They even overpaid for the contract. Instead of N240 million, they paid N287 million. These are thorny issues that she and the contractor must explain and that is why the agents are questioning her.”
The EFCC also suspects that the contractor did not perform the contract after receiving payment.
“It is not clear that the contract has been delivered,” a source said. “Its exact status has not been determined, but we believe there is no magic that would have caused the contract to be delivered or performed to specification after Etteh received that huge amount of the contract amount.”
ALSO READ: 2021 House review: The good, the bad and the ugly
EFCC spokesman Wilson Uwujaren could not be reached for comment on this story. One of his subordinates said that he is traveling in the UK at the moment.
However, a senior EFCC official confirmed Ms. Etteh’s arrest but asked not to be identified because he did not have permission to discuss the matter with the media.
Mrs. Etteh’s past
Ms. Etteh was removed from her leadership position in the House of Representatives amid a scandal in October 2007, although much later she was acquitted of fraud charges leveled against her by colleagues.
Just four months after she was elected Speaker of the House, her colleagues turned on her and demanded that she resign from her high post following allegations of corruption.
The lawmakers had accused the then president of the Chamber of Deputies of awarding a 628 million naira contract for the renovation of her official residence and that of her deputy, as well as the purchase of 12 official vehicles.
Lawmakers insisted that the contract award did not follow due process.
On a motion by then-chairman of the House Business and Rules Committee Ita Enang, the House of Representatives later exonerated the former speaker of alleged wrongdoing in the N628 million House renewal saga that resulted in her resignation.
Ms. Etteh, Nigeria’s first female speaker, then enrolled at the University of Buckingham, UK, earning a Bachelor of Laws in 2015.
The same year, Ms. Etteh left the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).