AFRICA: NIGERIA

N34bn fraud: Tompolo begs court to vacate arrest warrant

An ex-Niger Delta militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, has pleaded with Justice Ibrahim Buba of a Federal High Court in Lagos to set aside the warrant of arrest issued against him. On January 14, while all his co-accused persons were in court with their lawyers, he was absent and was not represented by any counsel.

Justice Buba had on January 14 issued a bench warrant against him and ordered his arrest for failing to honour a court summons dated January 12 to appear in respect of a 40-count of alleged N34bn fraud leveled against him and nine others by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. In the charge against him and others, the EFCC accused them of conspiring to divert various sums running into over N34bn, allegedly stolen from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency to their personal use.