Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has declared Christopher Enweremadu, a former Abia State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, and Fortune Ozoemela wanted over allegations of criminal conspiracy, diversion of public funds, stealing, and money laundering.
Gatekeepers News reports that the commission made this known in a public notice released on Wednesday and signed by its spokesman, Dele Oyewale.
According to the notice, Enweremadu’s last known address is the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Umuahia, Abia State, while Ozoemela, aged 40, hails from Abia State and was last traced to 122 Ozoemila’s Compound, Amakama Olokoro, Umuahia.
Oyewale urged anyone with useful information about their whereabouts to report to the EFCC’s offices in Abuja or any of its zonal commands in Ibadan, Uyo, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Benin, Makurdi, Kaduna, Ilorin, Enugu, Kano, Lagos, Gombe, and Port Harcourt.
Although the EFCC did not provide details of the transactions directly linked to Enweremadu, he is being investigated in connection with the management of funds allocated to Abia’s 17 local government councils.
In December 2024, a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja ordered a probe into allocations to the state’s LGAs between 2019 and 2023 and directed the EFCC to submit its findings.
The court also ordered the seizure of the international passports of Enweremadu, Erondu Uchenna Erondu (a former aide to ex-Governor Okezie Ikpeazu), and Deaconess Joy Nwanju, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters.
The ruling followed an ex parte application filed by an activist who alleged that billions of naira meant for Abia’s local governments were diverted under the watch of the officials.
