The former governor was invited by the anti-graft body for questioning over his stewardship.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested the immediate past Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom.
The former governor was invited by the anti-graft body for questioning over his stewardship.
Ortom, however, drove into the Makurdi zonal office of the agency, which is located at Alor Gordon street in the state capital at exactly 10:08am.
He walked straight into the building.
The former governor’s media aide, Terver Akase, and Principal Special Assistant on Special Duties, Abraham Kwanhgu, were sighted with him.
He had not left the premises as of noon when this report was filed.
SaharaReporters had on May 29 reported that the EFCC concluded plans to arrest and intimidate Ortom.
Sources had told SaharaReporters that the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state was behind it.
According to the sources within the APC fold, the leader of the party in the state, Senator George Akume, who is now the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) was part of the plot against Ortom.
"The plan is to use EFCC to arrest Governor Ortom as soon as he loses immunity today (May 29, 2023) and take him to Abuja where he will later be transferred to Lagos and tortured severely," one of the sources said.
The second part of the plan, according to the source, is "to commence a media trial of Ortom by using columnists and reports to convict him on the pages of newspapers and in the electronic media without any court verdict".
It was learnt that a team of EFCC officials had been covertly deployed from Abuja to Benue State on Sunday without the knowledge of the commission's office in Makurdi, the state capital, fearing they might leak the information.
The team was reportedly given the express mandate to invade Ortom’s house, ransack his residence and pick him up.