Chris Ngige, former Minister of Labour and Employment, is in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Fred Chukwuelobe, the former minister’s media aide, confirmed the development on Thursday in a statement.
He dismissed reports circulating on social media that Ngige had been abducted.
“I have been receiving calls in the past hour from friends and journalists seeking the veracity of the news making the rounds that His Excellency, Dr Chris Ngige, former governor of Anambra State and immediate past Minister of Labour and Employment, has been kidnapped.
“Ngige is with the EFCC. He was not abducted or kidnapped,” he said in a Facebook post.
Kano Times reports that the EFCC has yet to comment on the reason for Ngige’s detention as at the time of filing this report.
Ngige becomes the second minister who served under former President Muhammadu Buhari to be detained by the EFCC in recent weeks.
Abubakar Malami, former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, is also in custody.
Malami had earlier confirmed that he was being investigated over issues relating to the recovery of the “Abacha loot”.
He said the EFCC informed him that the probe was linked to an alleged duplication in the recovery of the $310 million Abacha funds, which accrued to about $322.5 million at the time it was recovered for the Federal Government.
According to him, the allegations border on abuse of office and money laundering.
Malami, however, described the allegations as baseless and illogical, insisting that they would not stand when examined against facts and due process.
