Nigeria's telecom chief held
2006-07-11 13:19
Lagos - Nigeria's anti-graft agency has arrested the boss of the country's second-largest telecommunications operator for "routine investigation", said a senior official on Tuesday.
A senior official of the agency, who asked not to be named, said Michael Adenuga, chairperson of Globacom, was picked up at his Lagos home early on Sunday by the Economic Financial and Crimes Commission (EFCC).
He said: "It is a routine investigation. We are looking into some transactions in which his name has been mentioned. He will be released as soon as he is through with us."
Globacom had a subscriber base of some five million people in this communications-starved west African country with a population of about 130 million.
Obasanjo 'due to step down'
Although the EFCC didn't give full details of the arrest, analysts said it was surprising that Adenuga was being detained since he was regarded as an "Obasanjo boy" - close to President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The telecom chief contributed millions of dollars to Obasanjo's re-election campaign in 2003, and also doled out hefty sums to a library project of the president.
Obasanjo, who was due to step down next year after serving a constitutional limit of two terms in office, had waged a battle against corruption in the oil-rich African country since coming to power in May 1999.
But, critics said the graft war had yet to touch high-profile political and business figures.