EFCC clears Ogun teachers in N326m loan scam

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has given a clean bill of health to the 120 secondary school teachers from Ogun State who were quizzed over an alleged multi-million loan scam.

The teachers were reported to have obtained loans from First Bank Plc since 2011 and defaulted in repayment. They, however, denied ever taking the loan. But contrary to earlier reports that the loan was N200 million, investigation shows that it was N326 million.

It was reliably gathered yesterday that the last batch of the teachers, comprising 20 staff, appeared before the EFCC on Tuesday at the commission’s Lagos office.

The anti-graft agency had since penultimate Monday began quizzing the teachers after it invited them through the Ogun State Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM). Following their clearance, the leadership of TESCOM yesterday held a meeting with the affected teachers to appraise the development.

The meeting, which held at Reverend Kuti Memorial Grammar School, Nawarudeen Road, Abeokuta, lasted about two hours. It was learnt that the TESCOM Acting Chairman, Otunba Timothy Adebowale, and other senior officials of the agency were in attendance.

A source, who was privy to the meeting, told our correspondent that the teachers were advised to consider their “ordeal” at the EFCC as “an act of God.”