Anti-graft agency, EFCC has seized a property estimated to be worth about N500 million from the former acting Governor of Adamawa State, Umaru Fintiri.
According to a source within the agency, the house located on No. 7, Gana Street, Maitama, Abuja was seized with the inscription ‘EFCC, under investigation’ written on its gate following the arrest of the ex acting Governor.
Recall that Fintiri was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission 10 days ago in line with a petition filed by former members of his cabinet alleging that he embezzled the sum of N1.9 billion during his three months in office as the acting governor of Adamawa State
Fintiri was the Speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly before he became the acting governor of Adamawa state after Murtala Nyako was impeached along with his deputy, Bala Ngilari in 2014.
The EFCC source disclosed: “Before his impeachment, Nyako left a balance of N1,957,045,82 in the state government’s project account with the Yola branch of Zenith Bank, with account number 1011325467. Out of the money, N497m was meant for the construction of a law faculty at the university, which was to be sited at the former Teachers’ College, Yola.
“However, when Fintiri took over as acting governor, he transferred the proposed faculty from Yola to the Mubi campus of the ADSU and later laid the foundation; but after that, the project never took off.
“Investigations revealed that on Fintiri’s orders, part of the N1.9bn was released to the Ministry of Works and a contract was awarded to a construction company, Mayim Construction Limited, for the construction of roads in Mararaba Garta and Kamale in the Michika Local Government Area of the state. The company, we believe, is owned by Fintiri, which is illegal.”
The source added: “The roads in question have not been constructed.”