APC Imo guber candidate Uzodinma arrested over $12m NPA contract

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo state, Senator Hope Uzodinma has been arrested by operatives of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for Recovery of Public Property.

The Chairman of the panel, Chief Okoi ObonoObla, confirmed this on Monday to our reporter in a telephone interview. He said Uzodinma, who was arrested on Sunday at Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, was wanted over a breach of contract.

He said a company belonging to Uzodinma was awarded a $12m contract by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) for the dredging of Calabar channel but did not execute the contract.

Obono-Obla said the arrest became necessary following the refusal of the Imo West Senator to honour 12 invitation letters sent to him through the Clerk of the National Assembly since 2017 when the panel began the investigation.

“We have written at least 12 letters to him through the clerk of the national assembly in accordance with their procedure. He has shunned all our invitations and he has been very evasive”, Obona-Obla said.

It was gathered that Uzodinma got the contract said to be worth about N26 billion from the Goodluck Jonathan administration. He reportedly received $12.5 million of the contract sum for the dredging of Calabar channel from the NPA, but failed to execute the contract.