For Nsima Ekere, Not Pleasant Times

It’s not a good time to be a prominent public personality in Nigeria, especially if you once held an office in an industry that thrives on an opaque system of cash flow. In the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), it is a fact that a lot of money moves under the sheets. But to whom? Well, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seems to think that the former NDDC MD, Nsima Ekere, has a monopoly on some of these opaque sheets.

According to the EFCC, Ekere’s hands are nowhere near as white as his people would have the rest of us believe. According to the anti-graft agency, Ekere is likely the main brain behind the diversion of N47 billion. This humongous sum is supposed to have been stolen using registered NDDC contractors.

Based on the evidence the anti-graft agency has gathered on the matter thus far, Ekere has been arrested. Unless someone makes a move to get him out, the 56-year-old will remain in EFCC custody while his peers move about in society in preparation for the 2023 presidential election.

This is not the best of times for Ekere, to say the least. By this time last year, he was probably punching numbers into a calculator regarding how he was going to contribute to the presidential elections. After all, it has been intimated on more than one occasion that politics is his fulcrum. Thus, having him in police custody before this season of political intrigues is over is the same as cutting his air supply, some sources claim.