EFCC arrests electricity commission boss, directors - Punch

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Wednesday arrested the Chairman of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, Dr. Ransome Owan, and six commissioners in the agency over an alleged N5bn fraud.

Their arrests occured hours after a Federal High Court in Benin, Edo State, restrained 15 banks not to honour cheques issued by the Ondo State Government for some contracts.

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Sources close to the EFCC said that Owan and the commissioners would remain at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja, until investigation was concluded.

When contacted on the telephone, the EFCC Spokesman, Mr. Femi Babafemi, sent a terse text message in which he wrote “confirmed.”

The Head, Media and Publicity of the agency, Mr. Michael Faloseyi, could not be reached as at 9pm on Wednesday for comment but a source in the NERC said, “All I can say is that they (Owan and the commissioners) were arrested by EFCC operatives at the close of work today(Wednesday).

The NERC is an electricity licensing and regulatory agency of the Federal Government that does not award contracts.

It was set up in 2006 following the enactment of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, which envisaged the privatisation of the power sector.

Part of the agency’s mandate is to regulate the Power Holding Company of Nigeria units when they are privatised. It also regulates the Independent Power Projects.

What a shame. I pity Nigeria

oh, what part of Nigeria is Ransome Owan from ?

maxell:

oh, what part of Nigeria is Ransome Owan from ?

does it matter corruption is corruption

.

tpia:

who's he?

only Nigerian I know of with the name Ransome is Fela's cousin.

But I think th Kuti's have Ransome as part of their surnames.

Oh well, this dude only needs to pay a small ransom and he'll be released by EFCC anyway.

Oh well, this dude only needs to pay a small ransom and he'll be released by EFCC anyway

rafloma. man {.na borow na him i borrow am.}

EFCC raids NERC boss, six commissioners‘ homes - Punch


Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday raided the homes of the Chairman of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, Dr. Ransome Owan and six of his commissioners located in Abuja.

Sources close to the commission said that the operatives of the EFCC raided the homes of the officials who were arrested and detained on Wednesday and discovered vital documents.

According to the sources, some of the documents retrieved in their homes include share certificates and documents on banks deposits.

Apart from these, our correspondent reliably gathered that, part of the troubles of the suspects was that they were alleged to have shared over N100m each, of money suspected to belong to the commission.

The source alleged that part of the documents retrieved at the home of the chairman included possible details of a N500m bank lodgment into a private account.

Also retrieved by the EFCC agents at the home of the only woman among them were share certificates in blue chip companies across the country.

When contacted, the Head, Media and Publicity of EFCC, Mr. Femi Babafemi, said that he did not have the details at the moment, but confirmed the raids on the suspects‘ homes.

He also confirmed that the suspects were still being detained by the commission as more information was being extracted from them to know the level of their involvement in the alleged fraud.

The spokesperson of NERC, Mr. Patrick Ayendi when contacted on phone, confirmed that his bosses were still in the EFCC custody but denied knowing whether their homes were searched.

He said since their arrests on Wednesday, they had been held incommunicado.

”Since their arrest yesterday (two days ago), we have not been able to talk to them,” he said

There we go again. Very shameless and godforsaken people killing themselves in the name of "I am corrupt because the society is corrupt". You won't be surprised that he is a prominent member in his church/mosque. Shame on us all .

While i know that some of you are cynical due to history and behavior of top Nigerian officials, when it comes to Dr. Ramsone Owan, hold your fire. This is an honorable man. Yes, i know that even honorable men can and do fall sometimes, but hold your judgments, let's see what the investigation yields. I personally know how Nigeria and Obasanjo begged this man to come to Nigeria to accept this post - something he had to be persuaded to do, you don't go to some of the best schools in the world and be respected by top western colleagues in your field and then go squander it all in Nigeria. That might be somebody, Not Dr. Ransome Owan. This man is a great father and servant to his communities here in the states and rural Nigeria, where he is from.

Again, out of respect, hold your fire and judgments. Y'all know how the politics in Naija work. As a member of this site rightfully pointed, "I pity Nigeria," I do too. I was really looking forward to taking my expertise home someday to give back but if this is how good men will be dragged and humiliated, one really has to think twice.

slydomber:

you don't go to some of the best schools in the world and be respected by top western colleagues in your field and then go squander it all in Nigeria. That might be somebody, Not Dr. Ransome Owan.

Unfortunately, Fani Kayode proved your theory wrong. After a Cambridge degree, he still aquandered as much as possible in Nigeria.

But don't worry, Nigeria would release him because they never investigate anything. Just tell Dr Ransome to pay a little ransome and he'll be free.

Can someone please tell me the outcome of this? I met Ransome while he was in the states. This so unbelievable! I know this was reported in February but I don't see anything else about it.