- The suspension was conveyed in a letter through Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation
- Buhari had said the suspension would be in place till the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) concludes its investigation on Obono-Obla.
Okoi Obono-Obla, former chairman of the Special Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (SPIP), has alleged that recovered loot under his leadership during former President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure was returned to the looters.
He spoke during an interview on the ‘Mic On podcast’ hosted by Seun Okinbaloye, a journalist with Channels Television.
Obono-Obla noted various high-profile instances of corruption — lamenting the absence of tangible progress in addressing these issues.
The ex-SPIP chairman criticised the Buhari administration for reneging on its promise to combat corruption, a pledge that garnered public trust, adding that he encountered staggering corruption, notably in a case involving the seizure of extravagant assets.
The SPIP was established to investigate cases of corruption, abuse of office and related offences by public officers.
Obono-Obla said that his attempts to hold numerous looters accountable were thwarted by officials within the administration, including Abubakar Malami, former minister of justice and attorney general, whom he accused of being “authoritarian” and of obstructing his efforts.
“Some of the things I recovered were returned to the looters. For instance, there was this case of someone from whom I recovered over 80 brand new X-class Mercedes Benz cars (armoured plated) from in Jabi, Abuja,” he said.
“I wrote to the DG, Customs to ask if the person paid customs duties of the vehicles, he said ‘No’, they didn’t pay.
Speaking on tax evasion, Obono-Obla said, “I wrote to the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), to know if the person paid tax on the vehicles; he also said ‘No’ and that they don’t have the records.
“We went to court to get an order of interim forfeiture, and it was granted pending the hearing of the case. So, I sent a memo to Malami to brief him on what we were doing, only for him to tell me that he never mandated me to do things I investigated.”
The former SPIP chairman further spoke on his efforts to investigate offshore assets linked to a senator and former governor.
“Another one is the case of a senator who was then in his sitting status and later became the President of the Senate. I found his story in the Panama Papers, which stated that he had property in offshore islands; I didn’t have the power to investigate him because it was overseas, so I went to the DG, NIA, and sought his help to work together.
“They conducted an investigation and sent the report to me. The report confirmed that this senator has over £200 million worth of property in the offshore islands; I sent a copy to the president and one to the Attorney General. Till today, nothing happened.”
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