The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested a former Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Timber Wabote, following his involvement in a $35 million Brass Project fraud.
Wabote was apprehended on Tuesday, November 12, by officials of the EFCC after his name surfaced in an ongoing investigation of a failed refinery project worth $35 million.
Wabote who is currently cooling off at the EFCC headquarters was whisked away by operatives in Abuja.
His arrest came in the wake of the recent arrest of one Akintoye Adeoye Akindele, the Managing Director of Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited.
Investors King gathered that Akindele was detained for abandoning the project after receiving a payment of $35 million.
A statement published on Tuesday disclosed that the suspect was contracted by Secretary Wabote, in 2020, for the 2,000 barrels per day (BPD) project in Brass LGA, Bayelsa.
The statement reads, “NCDMB under the watch of Wabote allegedly paid the $35 million to Akindele to build a 2,000 barrel per day (BPD) refinery, jetty, gas plant, power plant, data center, and tank farm at the Brass Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in Okpoama Community, Brass LGA, Bayelsa State.
The statement added that “Since December 2020, when the payments were made, Akindele allegedly abandoned the project with minimal progress, despite the substantial funds provided.”
Wabote was the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB from 2016 to 2023, and his office was tasked with the responsibility of delivering key projects adopted by the body.
Within that time, Wabote financed 17 different projects, including the abandoned 2,000 BPD poject which has landed him in EFCC custody four years later.