The Chairman, Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the
Recovery of Public Property, Chief Okoi Obono Obla on Friday dismissed
calls by the House of Representatives for his dismissal as a ploy to
derail investigations into corrupt practices.
Okoi Obono-Obla, |
Obla said recent attacks against him, over an alleged forged WAEC
certificate since he commenced investigations into the activities and
finances of some senators and members of the House of Representatives,
were premeditated.
He said: “The call by the House of Representatives on Mr President to
sack me for alleged certificate forgery is hogwash, balderdash and
absolute rubbish!
“It is a hatchet job by agents and merchants of corruption and graft
that have looted the country for the past 19 years to intimidate, hound
and harass me.
“They are agents of looters that I have investigated. Is the House of Representatives the police?” he queried in a statement in Lagos.
On the allegation of certificate forgery, Obla stated that he graduated from the university over 30 years ago.
“I left university 30 years ago. I graduated and went to law school. I
left Law School in 1990 and was called to Bar in June 1991.
“The university screened me and awarded me a degree after deeming me worthy and after fulfilling the entry requirements.
“I wrote JAMB and scored excellent grades in all the subjects I wrote.
“It is a blackmail contrived by looters and their agents using the House of Representatives,” he said.
Meanwhile, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Obla has
also filed a lawsuit against the House of Representatives over the
matter.
He is challenging the power of the House of Representatives to
conduct such an investigation, adding that the report is a hatchet job
with a premeditated mission, illegal and unconstitutional.
According to him, the call for his sack was a reaction to the
information released by his panel forwarding the names of those under
its investigation to the Nigeria Immigration Service.
He said the information required the Service to implement the travel
ban stipulated by the Executive Order No 6 of 2018 for those under trial
and investigation for corruption and abuse of office.
“I must be a genius to pass through University and Law School,
practice law for more than two decades without a school certificate.
“The whole issue is really laughable but it is sad the extent to which corruption can fight back,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment