The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, arrested out going Speaker of the House of Representatives Dimeji Bankole on Sunday evening in Abuja after a four hour standoff. Bankole has been wanted for questioning with regard to the sum of 10 billion naira that he obtained on loan from a bank under the name of the House.
An attempt to arrest the politician on Friday met with stiff opposition as he barricaded himself in his house from where he made entreaties to leading political figures to come to his help. Hafiz Ringim, Inspector General of Police waded in on his behalf and asked the EFCC to allow him handover office to the new House Speaker on Monday.
However, the EFCC decided to move in on him on Sunday when it learnt that the politician had been devising ways to escape the dragnet of the law and go out of the country. Bankole, who looked a shadow of his old self without his official entourage as he walked into the EFCC office on Sunday, is undergoing questioning at the commission’s office in Abuja and might appear in court on Monday.
