Baltasar Ebang Engonga, Director General of Equatorial Guinea’s National Financial Investigation Agency (ANIF), is in the centre of a storm involving some 400 explicit videos of himself making the rounds on social media following investigations into corruption last week. News reached us that Baltasar Ebang Engonga, Deputy Director General of the National Financial Investigation Agency. Videos showed him in graphic and explicit scenes having sex with multiple women. The scandal was that some of the women were said to have been involved in intimate acts with him in the public sector. The explicit content immediately trended on social media. Supreme court upholds appointment of INEC chairman Adamu Abubakar,as a court of appeal judge Equity fund manager charged with N141m fraud.
The Vice President, Teodoro Nguema, who is the son of the president, warned that his government was going to maintain a zero tolerance towards any official in breach of the rule. He said “We are warning in no uncertain terms that anyone going forward who is found guilty of such acts would immediately be dismissed and would be held accountable for their actions before the courts. Meanwhile, as per our commitment to transparency in the government, we are making an effort to investigate not only the videos in question, but regardless of whether risk to public health may exist. ” “In the tapes which were recorded in several government offices, it appeared that the former Chancellor of the National Financial Investigation Agency was engaged with two women and one other sex worker during a period prior to his appointment to his agency.
His affair came to light last week after institutional investigation into the practice of the financial investigation agency. Earlier, Tennengau Adamu, right to procure services of prostitutes as payment are being thoroughly reviewed. It is believed that the financial impunity of Nigerian politicians that has caught fire around the world over the past year, after the Panama Papers blew cover on the secrets behind the wealth of many notable political figures including data on 12 Nigerians.
The scandal over Baltasar Ebang Engonga, Equatorial Guinea’s Director General of the National Financial Investigation Agency (ANIF), has escalated following reports that one of the women recorded on the videos has allegedly committed suicide.
Government officials are having much to say about the deep social effects of this scenario with all leaders, including Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, stressing the pain inflicted on the women and their families. The leak has raised public annoyance and pointed some deeper queries on the ethical responsibilities of government officials, especially to those provided with the duty to establish fine financial health and fight corruption. The concerns and debates over privacy, exploitation, and implications for leadership and anti-corruption efforts continue to rock Equatorial Guinea.
