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.
The action, according to ICPC, followed the refusal of Obono-Obla to appear before it over allegations bordering on corrupt practices.
Said ICPC in a statement it issued: “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 had 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 had been allegedly violated by Mr. Obono-Obla.”
The anti-graft body said after the former SPIP chairman refused to honour its invitation, it resorted to contacting order law enforcement agencies for assistance concerning his whereabouts.
It said that findings had shown that Obono-Obla had left the country.
“The NIS records revealed that he left the country to an undisclosed location on 17th August, 2019, through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, and has not returned two months after.”
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari suspended Obono-Obla in August pending the conclusion of the investigation ICPC was ordered to carry out against him over alleged malpractices.
