A brother to the Cross Rivers State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade has been arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The relation, Dr. Francis Ayade was arrested on Tuesday in connection with an alleged N2.4billion contract scam.
Ayade, Managing Director of Leophina Nigeria Limited and Hally Brown International Limited, was involved in shady deals involving diversion of public funds into his companies’ accounts. Specifically, four different allocations from the Nigerian federal government accounts were allegedly diverted into Hally Brown International Limited’s account owned by him.
Investigations showed that Hally Brown International Limited was awarded a road construction contract to the tune of N2.4billion in 2011. To finance the contract, Ayade allegedly took a loan of N350,000,000( Three Hundred and Fifty Million Naira only) from First Bank Plc, on behalf of Cross Rivers Rural Access and Mobility Project. The loan, was however, never used for the contract, but transferred into the Mobility Project. Ayade has also been implicated in alleged suspicious transactions involving Obudu Micro Finance Bank, among other allegations.
He has been offered administrative bail but still in the custody of the EFCC until he fulfills the bail conditions. –SR