The gubernatorial candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodinma was on Sunday arrested by the Special Presidential Investigation Panel For Recovery of Public Property (SPIPRPP) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

Confirming the arrest to newsmen, the SPIPRPP Chairman, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla said the panel arrested Uzodinma, who is also the senator representing Imo West Senatorial District in the National Assembly over the failure of his company to execute a $12 million contract for the dredging of the  Calabar Channel.

According to a statement by Obono-Obla, the contract was awarded to Senator Uzodinma by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), adding that the lawmaker had been evading arrest for about a year before Sunday’s arrest.

“This evening at about 8.20pm, operatives of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel For Recovery of Public Property at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport arrested the APC governorship candidate in Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, after disembarking from an Air Peace P47324 flight from Lagos.

“The panel is investigating economic sabotage against Senator Uzodinma arising out of the failure of his company to execute a contract of $12m for the dredging of Calabar Channel awarded by the NPA,” the statement read.