Adeyemi Alimot
Former Chairman of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (SPIP), Okoi Obono-Obla has revealed that the immediate Former President, Muhammadu Buhari’s government shielded a former governor from prosecution over $200 million in offshore assets.
The former chairman, who made this confession in an interview on a microphone,on Podcast, remarked several cases of high-profile corruption, expressing dissatisfaction over the lack of decisive action on the part of the government.
Obono-Obla highlighted a case involving the recovery of extravagant assets. He said, “For instance, there was this case where somebody had 80 brand new armored S-Class Mercedes Benz cars, along with houses, farms, motorcycles, and more, all discovered in a single location in Jabi. We intervened, questioned whether customs duties were paid on these vehicles. It turned out, they hadn’t.”
Speaking on tax evasion, Obono-Obla said, “I wrote to the Federal Inland Revenue Service about these assets, questioning if taxes were paid. They confirmed no records of tax payments.”
The former chairman submitted detailed reports to President Buhari and the Attorney General (Abubakar Malami, SAN) after the investigation, but Obono-Obla was reportedly sacked.
August 15, 2019 during the President Buhari administration. His sack letter stated that Obono-Obla would face “criminal prosecution on matters related to his alleged financial dealings, as uncovered by the ICPC upon investigation.”
“The government may ask the University of Jos withdraw his law degree and the Nigerian Law School to debar him from practice,” the letter added.