The Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Uwajumogu, has castigated the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), over last Wednesday’s arrest and detention of two officers of the state government in connection with an alleged N46 billion unsecured loan obtained by the Owelle Rochas Okorocha administration.

In a statement made available to News Express, Rt. Hon. Uwajumogu pointedly accused the anti-graft agency of double standards, saying that it had yet to similarly move against officials of the preceding administration of Chief Ikedi Ohakim.

The Speaker declared that the state Commissioner for Finance Mr. Chike Okafor and the Accountant General, Mr. George Eche, had committed no crime deserving of the treatment meted out to them.

Said the the statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Citizen Ikenna Samuelson Iwuoha: “The attention of the Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly has been drawn to the recent allegation, arrest of two top government officials and action of the descended heavily on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Imo State.

“The Office of the Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly therefore wishes to inform the general public that the financial transactions of the present government in the state have followed due process (and with the consent of the Imo State House of Assembly). However, the Imo State House of Assembly is currently looking into issues of illegal loans and facilities obtained by the previous government in the state, for which the EFCC is yet to make any arrest despite repeated petitions to them.

“It is therefore clear that the action of the EFCC in the state is mischievously diversionary and capable of distracting the purpose-driven Rescue Mission Government of this Administration.”

News Express reports that Messrs Okafor and Eche were released after two days in detention and have since resumed work in Owerri, the Imo State capital.

•Photo: Speaker Uwajumogu.