For the first time since he was relieved of his duties and his agency scrapped, former Chairman of the Special Presidential Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (SPIP), Okoi Obono-Obla spoke yesterday on his ordeal.
Obono-Obla who said he executed his brief to the best of his ability, claimed those behind his ordeal were bent on rubbishing him before the Nigerian public.
He wondered why his accusers are still after him after taking his job and proceeded to declare him wanted for doing nothing wrong.
Obono-Obla opened up on his Facebook page last night.
He said: “Why are these people after me? They took their job away, yet they are not done. They smeared me in the media, they framed me. They lied against me. They declared me wanted. What offence have I committed?
“Even those, who have stolen billions or contributed to the wrecking of the national economy are not treated with such indignity. Those who have corruptly enriched themselves. They just want to humiliate me. They want to break me. They want to demonize me before Nigerians.
“I am a true patriot of Nigeria. I did my job with utmost dedication, dignity, integrity and commitment. God and history shall always vindicate the just. Nelson Mandela was persecuted, prosecuted, dehumanized and imprisoned for 27 years, but he became a world icon.
He has already taken the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, (ICPC) to court, challenging the decision of the organization to investigate him.
He accused the ICPC of nursing prejudice against him. Obono-Obla, who was declared wanted recently by the ICPC, said through his lawyer on Friday that he was never invited by the Commission.
He described the ICPC’s statement that he was a wanted man as an attempt to ridicule and embarrass him.
In a statement by his counsel, F. Baba Isa, Obono-Obla said that although he had served the ICPC with the court processes, it had refused to react to the suit.
Isa said: “Chief Okoi Obono Obla was never ever invited by the ICPC for an interview or questioning. Rather, we read on social media and blogs that a purported invitation letter was left at the law office of Obono, Obono & Associates, a law firm which our client resigned from since 2015 to accept the appointment of President Mohammadu Buhari, first to serve as Special Assistant on Prosecution and then as Chairman of the Special Presidential Panel for the Recovery of Public Property.
