Obono-Obla: chairman of the dissolved panel

The Federal Government on Thursday described the letter to President Muhammadu Buhari by Okoi Obono-Obla, the embattled former Chairman of the Special Investigation Panel for Recovery of Public Property Property (SPIP) as a “shenanigan’’ to cover up for the allegations made against him.

Obono-Obla had accused the office of Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo of persecuting him because of his loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari.

This was after President Buhari in August suspended him over alleged “falsification of records and financial impropriety”.

“The strongest defense for an accused person is to come out and say I did not do it. Any other defence is a shenanigan,’’ the Chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof, Bolaji Owasanoye said on Thursday in Abuja at a Special Town Hall Meeting on Fight Against Corruption, organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture while reacting to Obono-Obla’s letter to the President on the alleged persecution

According to Owasanoye, such allegation was common among political exposed accused persons who liked to weave religious, ethnicity and partisanship sentiment to over up for their misdeeds.

ICPC had subsequently declared Obono-Obla wanted after he repeatedly failed to appear before the commission to answer questions bordering on allegations of fraud and corruption.

He said some of such accused persons even parade fake medical reports and gave excuses that they travel abroad to circumvent their trial.

Owasanoye therefore welcomed the move by the anti-corruption agencies to sanction any medical Doctor that issue fake medical reports.

He added that reports of oversea travels by suspects would also be investigated to ascertain their veracity.