The Federal Government, on Thursday, admonished Okoi Obono-Obla, the former Chairman of the Special Investigation Panel for Recovery of Public Property Property (SPIP), to stop weaving public sentiments over his travails.
The Chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof, Bolaji Owasanoye, stated this on Thursday in Abuja at a Special Town Hall Meeting on Fight Against Corruption, organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture.
Owasanoye was reacting to a letter by Obono-Obla accusing the office of Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, of persecuting him because of his loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari in August suspended Obono-Obla over alleged “falsification of records and financial impropriety”.
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.
Reacting to Obono-Obla’s letter to the President on the alleged persecution, Owasanoye said that it is a “shenanigan’’ to cover up for the allegations made against the former SPIP chairman.
“The strongest defence for an accused person is to come out and say I did not do it. Any other defence is a shenanigan,’’ he said.
The ICPC boss said that such allegation was common among political exposed accused persons who liked to weave religious, ethnicity and partisanship sentiment to over up for their misdeeds.
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 issues fake medical reports.
He added that reports of oversea travels by suspects would also be investigated to ascertain their veracity.
