A former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim has been released after spending two days in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
First News earlier reported that the EFCC grilled Anyim over an alleged N750 million fraud after he arrived at the commission’s headquarters office in Abuja, Sunday afternoon.
The fund was said to have been released to a former Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, for projects rehabilitation in the ministry in 2014, but the anti-graft agency claimed it traced the money to the account of a company in which Anyim had an interest.
Anyim who was Senate President between 2000 and 2003, was appointed by then-President Goodluck Jonathan as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation in 2011, a position the 60-year-old held till 2015.
Lawyer to the former Senate president, Mike Ozekhome, told newsmen on Wednesday that Anyim was freed on Tuesday after the EFCC granted him administrative bail.
According to Ozekhome, although Anyim fulfilled the conditions attached to the administrative bail on Monday, he was only allowed to go home the next day.
He, meanwhile, said that his client was never invited by the commission but turned himself in voluntarily.
Ozekhome said: “I remain Anyim Pius Anyim’s lawyer. My chambers have been on the matter since Monday when we applied for his administrative bail before the EFCC. And yesterday (Tuesday), the administrative bail, which was earlier granted on Monday, was perfected.
“Anyim was released to go home on Tuesday and he has since gone to his house. It must be stated clearly that Senator Anyim was never invited by the EFCC. He had gone there voluntarily to meet with an officer on Sunday at about 3:00 p.m., to clear his name when he heard his name had been mentioned by a person under EFCC investigation. But surprisingly, he was not allowed to go home.”