Ekpeyong: Helping the EFCC
Ita Ekpeyong, the immediate predecessor of Lawal Daura at the Directorate of State Services, DSS has been arrested. He was taken in by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on Thursday after in Abuja. He is being investigated in connection with about N20 billion allegedly released to the Service few months to the 2015 election.
The Commission had attempted to arrest Ekpeyong in 2017, but it was stopped by Daura who was then head of the DSS. The Commission would be interested in what happened to about N17 billion left behind after the polls.
However, just as Ekpeyong was being arrested in his house at Asokoro Abuja, there are reports that the international passport of Daura was seized, apparently to prevent him from traveling out of the country. It is believed that the DSS boss who was sacked earlier in the week may need to assist the Commission in its investigation. The interest of the Commission would be the state of the DSS accounts when Daura took over.
In the event of some of the money still in the coffers of the Service when he came in, Daura would be expected to educate the commission on what happened to such left over, after he took over.
Ekpeyong who was in office for about five years , beginning from 2010 , may also be answering questions on the arms deal scandal.
