EFCC arrests Sylva’s spokesman for contract scam

An All Progressives Congress stalwart, Mr. Miebi Bribena has been reportedly arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over alleged contract scam at the Presidential Amnesty Programme.

It was learnt that Bribena, spokesman for former Governor Timipre Sylva on Social Media, was said to be a major beneficiary of the PAP Amnesty  was arrested early on Wednesday by operatives of the anti-graft agency.

He was said to be taken to the agency’s headquarters in Wuse in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, where he was quizzed for several hours. ​He was still being detained at the EFCC office at the time of filling this report.

It was learnt that Bribena was being interrogated over allegations that he absconded after collecting huge mobilization fees from the Amnesty office without executing the contract for which the money was paid for.

Bribena was said to be arrested for collecting about 95 per cent of the contract sum but there was nothing on the ground as structures to justify the amount collected and he was accordingly apprehended to account for his action.

While commenting on Bribena’s arrest, the Director of Publicity of the Restoration Campaign Organisation, Jonathan Obuebite, in a statement in Yenagoa on Wednesday, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his courage to go after criminal elements within his party, the APC.

He urged  him to do more as he said there were others like Bribena parading themselves on the streets of Yenagoa.

He stated that Buhari’s stance to go after people criminal past in Bayelsa State, was an indication that joining APC would not prevent anyone who breached the law from arrest and prosecution.

Reacting to the development, Director, Media and Publicity,  Sylva-Igiri Campaign Organisation,  Chief Nathan Egba, said he had not been fully briefed on the matter.

He, however, clarified that Bribena was not a spokesman for Sylva but a member of the party.

However, he said if Bribena was actually arrested, it indicated the zero tolerance for corruption by the Buhari-led administration.

Egba said, “If the arrest is true, it means that Buhari is a President who does not shield anybody from corruption irrespective of whether you an APC member or not. However, I have not been fully briefed on the matter.

EFCC arrests Sylva’s spokesman for contract scam