*We searched T.A Orji’s son’s home, not Atiku’s residence -EFCC responds
Mr. Paul Ibe, the Head of the Atiku Media Office, on Monday, said that operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission raided the apartments of Aliyu and Mustapha Atiku-Abubakar, two sons of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in Maitama, Abuja.
Ibe in a chat with Punch, said EFCC conducted the search on the apartment where Aliyu and Mustapha live on Saturday.
The paper reports Ibe as saying operatives of the agency found nothing incriminating on Atiku’s sons.
However, EFCC has responded to allegations that detectives raided the house of the Atiku’s home.
The EFCC said in a series of tweets that detectives only searched the house where the son of a former Governor of Abia State, Senator Theodore Orji, resides.
According to the commission, Orji’s son, Ogbonna, and his friend, Kelvin Ilonah, were arrested as part of investigations into Orji, who is alleged to have embezzled billions of naira during his eight-year tenure as governor.
The anti-graft agency said investigations revealed that Orji used his son to launder funds and detectives decided to extend the probe to him.
The EFCC said, “The former Abia governor has been under investigations by the EFCC for money laundering activities, which was discovered to have been carried out through his sons.
“The EFCC had been on the trail of cars allegedly bought by the sons, and last Friday the cars were traced to a nightclub in Abuja, where operatives waited patiently through the night to arrest the owners – Ogbonna and his friend, Kelvin Ilonah.
“They were arrested about 5am on Saturday, and they led operatives to their three-bedroom flat apartment, where documents retrieved showed that it was rented at a rate of N13m per annum.
“They have so far given useful information to the EFCC, which is aiding in investigations. It should be made clear that the EFCC never ‘went after’ Atiku’s sons, neither was Atiku’s son arrested by the EFCC.”
According to him, the search was an act of intimidation of Atiku, who he said officials of the Muhammadu Buhari government perceived as their ‘tomentor-in-chief.’
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