From Magnus Eze, Enugu
No fewer than three community leaders of Amankpaka, Ugwuogo Nike in Enugu East Local Area of Enugu State, are being quizzed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged forgery, fraud, misappropriation and fraudulent diversion of the community’s funds.
The trio, including one Gabriel Onuh, said to have headed the community’s Power of Attorney committee, were alleged to have indulged in land racketeering and indiscriminate sell of communal lands even when their tenure had since expired.
A source at the Enugu zonal office of the anti-graft agency confirmed their detention, but added that investigation was ongoing.
The arrest followed a petition by Emeka Abbah, counsel to the Secretary General of Amankpaka General Assembly, Chief Anieto Oguegbe.
According to the petition dated April 20, 2021, and received by the EFCC same day, it was alleged that Onu (Chairman), Anike Titus (Secretary), Aneke Innocent (Treasurer) and others, had diverted the community’s funds totalling over N300,000,000.
The petition among other allegations said that since their tenure expired, “they have been selling the community lands indiscriminately with reckless abandon and sharing the monies among themselves and their friends, and without accounting to any person or leaders of the community.
“That when they sell the community lands, they backdated the receipts to read that they sold the land before the expiration of their tenure.”