The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested Scott Tommey, one of the contractors with the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

Tommey was arrested in connection with the alleged misappropriation of the N80 billion Covid19 intervention fund.

Tommey was arrested to explain his role in the alleged misappropriation of the intervention fund.

Although he has been released on administrative bail, he is expected to make regular visits to the anti-graft agency as investigation into the matter progresses.

His phones were reportedly seized according to sources close to The Street Journal for forensics and data gathering.

Tommey, an indigene of Akwa Ibom State has been on the radar of the EFCC for a while using his company Osmoserve Global LTD to perpetuate fraud.

Before his arrest, Ardo Babayo Kumo, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Niger Delta, was arrested earlier in the month by EFCC for misappropriating the sum of N5 billion.

His arrest happened shortly after he failed to secure the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket to run for the governorship election of Gombe State while still in government employ, thus violating the civil service rule.

Similarly, in May, the EFCC arrested Nsima Ekere, a former managing director of the commission for alleged diversion of funds to the tune of N47 billion through registered contractors of the agency, one of who is Tommey.

To say that the stench of corruption emanating from the NDDC perpetrated by insiders through their cronies, one of who is Tommy, would be just putting it mildly.

In 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a forensic audit of the NDDC following reports of monumental fraud perpetrated by successive administrators of the commission.

The essence of the forensic audit was to ensure probity and accountability in the use of public funds.

The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami noted that the Federal Government approved about N6 trillion for the NDDC in the last 18 years.

He however decried that the bulk of the funds the Commission received for the development of the Niger Delta region, was diverted into private pockets, noting that execution of 13,777 projects were substantially compromised.

With the completion of the forensics audit on the commission, not only will more heads roll, more prominent contractors will be picked up by the EFCC for the various roles they played in the widespread corruption in the commission.