Suspended Chairman of the Special Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (SPIP), Okoi Obono-Obla has made shocking revelations.
He said; “I was purportedly suspended as Chairman of the now disbanded Special Presidential Investigation Panel for Recovery of Public Property through an announcement in the media! Until this moment I am yet to be served a letter to that effect.”
“Prior to my suspension, there had been two failed attempts to remove me because I was seen as ‘uncompromising, uncontrollable and a non-team player’ by some people in the upper rung of government.”
“For example on the 25 January 2019, I received a letter from the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Vice President directing me to suspend the activities of the Panel.”
“But I simply decided to ignore the letter because the Panel was only answerable to the President and Commander in Chief by virtue of the provisions of the Recovery of Public Property (Special Provisions) Act, 2004 (not to the office of the Vice President).”
“However, I want to state that my purported suspension was indeed a breach of the dictates of fair hearing and the procedure laid down in the Public Service Rules regarding the suspension of a public officer.”
“In my own case, I was informed in the media of my purported suspension and directed to report myself to ICPC! This is absurd!”
“Under our constitutional/criminal jurisprudence a suspect is presumed innocent till the contrary is proved! Directing me via the media to report to ICPC to prove my innocence tantamounts to prejudging me even before the commencement of the investigation of the allegations made against me.”
For those who don’t know, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) declared Obono-Obla wanted after he refused to honour an invitation to answer to allegations of forgery and financial impropriety.
In a letter addressed to him through Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) in August, President Muhammadu Buhari suspended the former SPIP chairman, pending the conclusion of investigations by the ICPC.
Besides, Abubakar Malami, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) also accused Obono-Obla of carrying out 50 illegal investigations while he was chairman of SPIP.