The state government last Friday through the Commissioner for Youth Development, Agbateyiniro Weyinmi, aka Agbass raised the alarm that some persons who disguised as staff members of World Bank, Bank of Africa, NEXIM and AFREXIM Banks had tried to defraud the state government but were exposed and arrested by the police.
More information has emerged about the arrest of four suspects who allegedly attempted to defraud the Sheriff Oborevwori-led government of Delta state.
The state government last Friday through the Commissioner for Youth Development, Agbateyiniro Weyinmi, aka Agbass raised the alarm that some persons who disguised as staff members of World Bank, Bank of Africa, NEXIM and AFREXIM Banks had tried to defraud the state government but were exposed and arrested by the police.
The commissioner said, "A gang of four persons invaded the state claiming they were bringing investment and funds from World Bank for the development of youths in the state.
“They also promised to bring more funds from Bank of Africa, NEXIM and AFREXIM Banks. But surprisingly when they were taken to the office of the Honourable Commissioner of Economic Planning and were subjected to relevant scrutiny, they were found not to be who they claimed or what they represent.
"Accordingly, the Commissioner for Economic Planning ordered them to be arrested for further interrogation. In order not to interfere with the smooth investigation being conducted by the police, their names won't be mentioned here.
“However, the state police command can be contacted for details. Just a day after they were released, they mobilized to destroy things in my office from where again, one of them was rearrested by the secretariat security and taken to GRA police station, Asaba. Usually, when a government is constituted, people try from several ends to position themselves.
"While some do theirs with genuine intentions, others do theirs with entirely negative and bad intentions. Because of how the Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori-led administration is fortified, from all ends, no one with negative intentions would be allowed to crack the government successfully.
“Therefore, if you come with genuine intentions, you will be accommodated and given your right space but if you are profiled and discovered to be with sinister motives, you will definitely be placed where you belong."
An investigation done by SaharaReporters revealed that there was no attempt to defraud the state government as claimed by the commissioner.
Confiding in SaharaReporters, a top management staff member of the ministry said, "What actually happened was that some guys came to the office to fight the commissioner over a deal that went sour and they were shouting on top of their voices and boasting.
“They even destroyed a few things including a refrigerator in the commissioner's office and when he saw it was getting out of hand, the commissioner invited the police and arrested the guys and they were taken to the GRA police station. That was what happened because I was there.
“Because he was finding a story to cover up his altercation with his media aide, Toju, he cooked up the story of four persons who came in an attempt to defraud the state government which was not true. He accused these persons he had the deal with that went sour of being behind the altercation story with his media aide."
A member of the police team who went to the commissioner's office also confided in SaharaReporters that what transpired on that day was different from the story shared with the media by the commissioner.
The source said, "What actually happened is a case of a deal between the commissioner and these guys that went sour and they came to demand some answers from the commissioner which he failed to give.
“After the arrest, they were released on bail. It's a paddy-paddy thing, they know the deal they have done. There was never a time four persons came to defraud the state government and the police arrested them as claimed by the commissioner. The commissioner has bags of issues on his shoulders, very controversial commissioner."
When contacted, the spokesperson for the state police command, SP Edafe Bright, dismissed the account of the commissioner, saying there was no time such a case was reported to the police and no time the police arrested four persons over an attempt to defraud the state government as claimed by the commissioner.
"There is nothing like the arrest of four persons for attempting to defraud the Delta state government. We have investigated and we found nothing of such and those arrested have been released.
“I think they are having their personal beef and the police should not be dragged into their personal beef," Edafe warned.
SaharaReporters reported last week that Agbateyiniro Weyinmi, aka Agbass was reportedly involved in an altercation with his media aide, identified as Toju, resulting in an assault.
The incident occurred during a visit by a federal government official to the commissioner’s office at the Prof. Chike Edozie Secretariat in Asaba.
SaharaReporters gathered that the aide had only walked into the commissioner's office to give him a visitor's form from a federal government official waiting endlessly for the commissioner and former national president of the Itsekiri National Youth Council (INYC) when he lost his temper and slapped the aide.
He followed it up by punching the aide in the face.
However, the embattled commissioner boasted that he would send his "boys" after any journalist who would dare to report the altercation between him and his aide or any other issue concerning his ministry and that such a journalist may not live to tell the story of what happened to them.
He also denied the altercation with his aide after initially boasting to our reporter to go ahead and write the report about the assault.
When contacted again by SaharaReporters regarding the update, he said, "The police cannot say that. The police cannot say that."