Barely few hours after descending on a current senator, former governor, and a presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Rochas Okorocha, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Nigeria, possibly on a corruption cleanup exercise has landed its sledgehammer on Scott Tommey, an alleged notorious bribe collector and ally to the former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio who is also contesting to fly the party flag of the APC in the 2023 general elections.
We learned that the arrest implicates Godswill Akpabio, who may soon be visiting the commission as the principal suspect to explain his role in the N200 Million bribe after the contractor petitioned him to the EFCC, who swung into action by arresting Mr Scott.
It will be recalled that sometimes in December 2021, The United Kingdom Serious Fraud Office, SFO, recieved petitions against the former Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Godswill Akpabio, including his associate Scott Ikot Tomey, a private contractor operating and acting as front for money laundering unbehalf the Minister.
According to credible sources, Akpabio, during his days as the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, assured a contractor of payment by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) but could not fulfil his promise before he resigned. The amount worth over N4 billion saw the contractor paying the sum of N200M in dollars equivalent to the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs through Scott Tommey, a proxy allegedly used by the former governor in receiving kickbacks from contractors. Identified as one of Nigeria’s silent billionaires, Scott Tommey, an Akwa Ibom State business tycoon, has been on the radar of the EFCC.
His company Osmoserve Global LTD was in the news in 2020 over its involvement in the questionable N4.9Billion Covid-19 intervention fund handled by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). This was after it reportedly got the contract for the “emergency supply and delivery of medical equipment and consumables” at the sum of Seven Hundred and Twenty-Nine Million, Two Hundred and Three Thousand, One Hundred and Thirty-Seven Naira, Fifty Kobo (729,203,137.50) despite being an indigenous company that provides marine and engineering services to the oil and gas industry, States and Federal Government parastatals among others.
With the recent arrest of Mr Scott, we gathered that the commission might be sending an invitation letter to Akpabio to explain his role in the whole saga or face similar treatment meted out to his colleague Rochas Okorocha.
