FORMER presidential aspirant under the platform of the Nigeria Liberation Party (NPL), Osita Emmanuel Okereke, who is the brain behind the National Task Force set up to combat Importation and Smuggling of Small Arms, Ammunition and Light Weapons has been arrested and interrogated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), for operating an illegal task force, running a recruitment racket, extortion and obtaining money by false pretence.
The EFCC said the syndicate, which maintains offices in different parts of the country defrauded unsuspecting members of the public by deceitfully selling recruitment forms to them at the cost ofN5,000 each under the pretext of offering them employment with the federal government.
The scam was uncovered through intelligence report, the commission said, and after weeks of painstaking surveillance, it stormed the office of the syndicate at the federal secretariat complex, Enugu, and arrested the zonal co-coordinator, Obinna C. Onyekwelu, along with nine others.
The other suspects are: Ajuani Uchenna, Emmanuel Ngwu, Kenneth Ambrose, Ogunjimi Charles,Uzoamaka Ikwunne, Chinwe Ogbu, Onyia Fidelia, Eze Amobi and Anioke Obinna.
The anti-corruption agency says several documents and cash were recovered after a search and the suspects have since been released on administrative bail after making useful statements.
Okereke claimed that his task force was duly recognized by the government but the commission’s investigation showed that there was no evidence of such registration.