Hope Uzodinma released on bail for failing to execute £12m Calabar port dredging contract

IMO State All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate Senator Hope Uzodinma has been released on administrative bail after being arrested over the weekend for failing to execute a $12m contract to dredge the port of Calabar.

 

On Sunday, the Special Presidential Investigation Panel For Recovery of Public Property arrested Senator Uzodinma in Abuja for failing to deliver on a contract. Panel chairman Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, said that the contract was awarded to Senator Uzodinma's company by the Nigerian Ports Authority.

 

According to Mr Obono-Obla, the serving senator representing Imo West Senatorial District was released on on humanitarian grounds on the condition that he would return to the panel for questioning. He added that Senator Uzodinma had been evading arrest for about a year but was arrested at about 8.20pm on Sunday evening at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

 

Mr Obono-Obla said: “We released him on bail on Sunday on humanitarian grounds and asked him to report back on Monday at 10am. When he didn’t come, my operatives laid siege to his residence, then he pleaded with us to allow him see his doctor and report on Tuesday.

 

“We are determined and unrelenting to get into the matter. The Calabar channel dredging project has been a conduit through which huge sums of money have been diverted.

 

“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. He has been evading all invitations of the panel over one year.”

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