Nigeria suspends oil delta agency head in graft probe
ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua on Friday suspended the head of a government agency responsible for the development of the oil-producing Niger Delta, days after local media accused the official of corruption.
The removal of Sam Edem as head of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is the latest move by Yar'Adua to crack down on corruption in Africa's top oil producer.
Yar'Adua came to power last year pledging zero tolerance for graft in the world's eighth biggest oil exporter.
Edem controlled an annual budget of close to a 100 billion naira to provide infrastructure in the impoverished Niger Delta, which accounts for nearly all of Nigeria's 2 million barrels of oil per day output.
A Nigerian weekly magazine reported in its current edition that Edem had spent about 1 billion naira ($8.6 million) on witchcraft and burnt another 270 million naira in a fetish ritual he believed would help secure his position and attract more patronage from the authorities.
Though Nigerians are very religious, many are highly superstitious and hold strong beliefs in voodoo and witchcraft.
"Following the allegations ... of incurring personal expenditure on a large scale which cannot be accounted for by his known legitimate sources of income ... Yar'Adua has approved that Ambassador Sam Edem be suspended with effect from today," said Babagana Kingibe, the government's chief scribe.
He added the allegations, "which the chairman has not so far denied," were being investigated.
Lack of development in the region is one of the grievances of militants who launched a violent campaign of sabotage against Africa's top oil industry in early 2006, shutting a fifth of Nigeria's output.
($1=117.75 naira)
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(Writing by Tume Ahemba; Editing by Randy Fabi and Mary Gabriel)
