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Former Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige has expressed surprise and disappointment at the report of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) linking him to allegations of money laundering, wondering how the Commission's Chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu could arrive at such a hasty conclusion without hearing his own side of the story.
Former Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige has expressed surprise and disappointment at the report of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) linking him to allegations of money laundering, wondering how the Commission's Chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu could arrive at such a hasty conclusion without hearing his own side of the story.
Dr. Ngige said that although he was yet to get full details of the report, he nevertheless believes that the allegation of money laundering was part of a plot being spearheaded by Mr. Andy Uba, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Domestic Matters, who he said has vowed to ensure that 'everything humanly possible" would be done to ensure that he (Dr. Ngige) did not come back to Anambra State to participate in the 2007 elections.
Responding to media reports quoting Mallam Ribadu as naming him among 31 State Governors/Governments under investigation for sundry financial malpractice, Dr. Ngige said that the official mentioned in the allegation, Princess Uzo Okonkwo, was a Special Assistant in charge of Abuja Liaison office of Anambra State, and that she neither traveled abroad throughout the 34 months that he was in power nor did she engage in any funds transfer abroad.
The former Governor, who reacted from the United States of America (USA) where he is currently on medical management, said it would have been preposterous for him to engage in money laundering using an officer based in Abuja where it would have been easy for such transaction to be traced.
Besides, he maintained that because the State under his care had no elected Local Government in place, the affairs of the council areas where administered jointly by the State Executive and the House of Assembly, citing section 7 of the constitution as empowering the State to administer the council areas.