Former Deputy Speaker House Of Reps,Usman Nafada Arrested By Efcc.

Nigerian anti-graft police on Sunday arrested a former deputy speaker of the lower house of parliament over alleged illegal procurement of a bank loan running into 257 million dollars, an official said.

"Usman Nafada was picked up today in connection with an illegal procurement of a bank loan running into 40 billion naira (257 million dollars, 179 million euros) when he was in office," EFCC anti-graft police spokesman Femi Babafemi told disclosed.
"He is likely to be formally charged in court on Monday," he said.

He did not give further details.

The arrest of Nafada,  comes exactly a week after that of the former speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, who is facing a first set of fraud charges.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said the 16-count charges against Bankole and others arise from the alleged misappropriation of nine billion naira in inflated contracts when he headed the House of Representatives.

Nafada, a member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, was Bankole's deputy in the old parliament which ended its tenure at the beginning of this month.

According to the charges, Bankole and other parliamentary leaders inflated the prices of television sets, computers, laserjet printers and copiers and they by-passed tender procedures for car purchases in 2008.

EFCC is accusing Bankole of a string of corrupt practices while in office, the latest being suspected mismanagement of a 10 billion naira bank loan parliament obtained before April elections.