The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Makurdi Zonal Office, on Thursday, June 11th, 2020 said it arrested Paul Hembah, the Security Adviser to Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom.

In a statement by the zone’s Publicity Head, Ayodele Babatunde, the governor’s aide was quizzed over alleged N42m fraud.

According to the anti-graft agency, the security adviser had on July 12th, 2019, transferred the said amount from his office to his personal account and withdrew the sum the same day.

The statement partly read,

The said sum was meant for disbursement to the Benue State Vigilance group.

The governor’s aide allegedly between October 2018 and May 2020 also abused his office by fraudulently paying the N20m monthly allocation meant for Benue State Vigilance Group into the personal account of the commandant of the group, George Mbessey, instead of using the official account of the group.

The alleged offence, if established, violates the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011.

Hembah, who was quizzed for six hours, have volunteered useful information to our investigators and would be arraigned in court as soon as investigations are concluded.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.