7th February, 2020
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) confirmed that all the law enforcement agencies have been put on red alert to arrest the suspended Chairman of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (SPIP), Okoi Obono-Obla.
Obono-Obla is on the ICPC wanted list for alleged corruption and abuse of office.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, ICPC Spokesperson, Rasheedat Okoduwa, said the former presidential aide was back in the country and was even sighted at an event recently.
“Signals have been sent to all the law enforcement agencies. Whenever they see him I am sure they will pick him up,” she said.
Okoduwa, however, urged Okoi Obono-Obla to appear and clear his name instead of resorting to propaganda against the commission.
“We are aware that Obono-Obla has returned to the country and everything he has been saying about the commission and its chairman.
“He is reportedly going about saying ICPC is a rival office to his own. I have people calling me to react to what he has said.
“The decent thing is for the gentleman to come to ICPC to clear his name. We have given him an opportunity to clear his name of the allegations against him.
“Come forward, let us hear your own side of the story. We have done our investigations and have facts. We want to confront him with these facts,” Okoduwa said.
The anti-graft agency had declared him wanted in October 2019 following his alleged repeated failure to honor the commission’s invitations.
However, he has reportedly denied the allegations and dismissed the action of the ICPC as an attempt to ridicule and embarrass him.
He was reported to have also denied being invited by the ICPC for questioning before he was declared wanted.