$12m contract fraud: Presidential Panel arrests Hope Uzodinma, Imo APC guber candidate

The Imo State All Progressives Congress,APC candidate, Senator  Hope Uzodinma has been arrested. He was picked up by operatives of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel For Recovery of Public Property at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport when he arrived Abuja from Lagos on Sunday.

“This evening, at about 8.20pm, operatives of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel For Recovery of Public Property at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport arrested the APC governorship candidate in Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, after disembarking from an Air Peace P47324 flight from Lagos,” Okoi Obono-Obla, Chairman of the recovery panel, disclosed  in a statement.

He added that “The panel is investigating economic sabotage against Senator Uzodinma arising out of the failure of his company to execute a contract of $12m for the dredging of Calabar channel awarded by the NPA”.

Channels Television reported Monday night that Uzodinma has denied being arrested by the panel.The medium  further reported that Uzodinma was released by the Presidential Panel on health grounds but was asked to report for questioning afterwards.

At the time of  his arrest Uzodinma was the APC candidate recognised by INEC to stand for the 2019 gubernatorial election in Imo, according to the list pasted recently by the electoral umpire.

It could however be recalled that incumbent Governor Rochas Okorocha has been at daggers drawn with  the National Chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole over the party’s failure to recognize  the governor’s son-in-law as the APC candidate.

Newsdiaryonline had  in  2017  published  details of the  intrigues over the NPA contract.The story titled:  EXCLUSIVE: Why Hope Uzodinma Is At War With Hadiza Usman-led NPA  gave some insights into the alleged vice grip on  the affairs of the Ports Authority by Uzodinma.