ICPC declares Obono-Obla wanted over alleged fraud

The former Chairman of the Special Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (SPIP), Okoi Obono-Obla, has been declared wanted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

In a statement made available to journalists on Tuesday in Abuja, the ICPC stated that the development was informed by Obono-Obla’s “repeated failure to appear before it to answer questions bordering on allegations of fraud and corruption.”

According to the statement, Obono-Obla has refused to honour its invitation over series of allegations levelled against him.

The statement said that the commission is in receipt of petitions accusing him of abuse of office, falsification of admission records, living above his income and collection of gratification from suspects under his investigation.

“The suspended chairman is also facing allegations of working outside the guidelines governing the panel by investigating unauthorized petitions and prosecuting suspects without recourse to the office of the attorney general of the federation.

“ICPC has conducted series of investigations on the allegations with preliminary findings showing that some provisions of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 and extant laws of Nigeria have been allegedly violated by Mr. Obono-Obla,” the ICPC said.

The agency said it has established that Obono-Obla left the country in August and has not returned since then.

“Consequently, the ICPC has extended several invitations to him, which he has failed to honour without giving any reason. Attempts to track and make him appear before the commission also failed leading the ICPC to contact other law-enforcement agencies for assistance concerning his whereabouts.

“One of such contacts has yielded results as records from the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) show that Obono-Obla had travelled out of the country.

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“The NIS records revealed that he left the country to an undisclosed location on August 17, through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja and has not returned two months after,” the agency added.

It would be recalled that Obono-Obla was suspended in August by President Muhammadu Buhari, who declared the suspension would be in force till the conclusion of investigation by the ICPC.