The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC) has been faulted for including a former Commissioner for Finance, Dr Philips Nto, among those it arraigned in a Umuahia court for fraud.
It alleged that EFCC and those after the family of Senator T. A .Orji targeted Nto for witch-hunt because of his refusal to betray the former governor and turn a prosecution witness.
Speaking shortly after Dr Nto and his boss, Senator Orji, and three others were granted bail by Justice Lillian Abai, the Chairman of Abia Coalition for Good Governance, Chief Livinus Onyekwere described the charges as politically motivated.
According to Onyekwere, those with vested political interests not only want to ruin the reputation of the former governor but punish Nto for being fiercely loyal to him.
He noted that from the 16 counts read in the court, only the first count concerning the N2bllion loan granted by the Central Bank of Nigeria happened during the tenure of Dr Nto as commissioner for finance.
He regretted that none of the commissioners for finance and Accountant Genersls who worked with Senator T. A . ORJI was charged with fraud.
He named such former officials to include Jones Udeogu, Mr Harrison ,Mr Eleri ,Mr Sam Onuigbo, and Mr Anthony Onyendilefu.
The activist said the most disturbing phenomenon in the entire saga is that those who were key players in the administration of Senator Orji and were even signatories to the state accounts have all been listed as prosecution witness
Mr Onyekwere also alleged that after investigation that spanned more than nine years by EFCC, it was discovered that Dr Nto was innocent, but he was included in the charge sheet based on the insistence of top people in Abia state government and his refusal to turn against Senator Orji.
He, however, noted that just as Dr. Philips Nto defeated the ICPC, which maliciously charged him to court for an alleged fraud, he will still come out victorious in the instant case.
” As for Dr Nto being innocent of the charges, there is no doubt about it. My happiness is that the matter has been charged to court after nine years of round robbin investigation by EFCC. Their case will collapse just like that of ICPC,” he submitted.
He said the majority of Abia youths stand in solidarity with Dr Nto, who he praised for being a good ambassador of theirs in government.
According to him, when Dr disbursed the N1b Central Bank of Nigeria loan, the officials of the bank wrote him a commendation letter because the names and addresses and phone numbers of beneficiaries were documented for easy verification.
“In fact, CBN rated Abia first in the 36 states in the strict adherence to rules released by the apex bank for the disbursement of the loan. Is it not funny that EFCC is charging him for doing his job according to the specification set out by the CBN?”, he asked.
He called on Dr Nto not to entertain any fear whatsoever but to ensure that he stands firm on the truth, including being loyal and steadfast to his master, Chief TA Orji
