DSS, EFCC seize Rep at airport over links to Obanikoro

A member of the House of Representatives, Sunday Karim was apprehended as he was about to board a flight out of the country by the DSS, because he was on the watch list of the EFCC.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said that the foreign trip of the Kogi State lawmaker, was stopped, over his alleged link with arms deal money.

Wilson Uwujaren, spokesman for the EFCC, said that stopping Karim from traveling by state agents became necessary because the lawmaker had been elusive for weeks.

“We’ve been looking for him since then but we couldn’t find him. So, we had to put his name on the watch list. Mr. Karim became a person of interest because he allegedly received up to N200 million through a company linked to him.

“The firm, Atlantic Drilling Fluids, allegedly received the funds from Sylvan MacNamara, a company linked to the sons of a former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro.

“Mr. Karim reported at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja on Friday afternoon, and was later allowed to go on the condition that he would return on Monday for further interrogations,” Uwujaren, reportedly claimed.

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Mr. Karim, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) House of Representative member, representing Kogi State, was hindered from traveling out of the country on Thursday by the State Security Service (SSS), at the Abuja International Airport, as he was about to board a flight to the United States of America.

According to Karim, the SSS stopped him as he was trying to clear Immigration, seized his international passport despite the fact that his luggage had been checked in by Air France.

He said his belongings were later returned to him, after the security agents seized his travel documents.

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