House Urges Buhari to Sack Obono-Obla

The House of Representatives has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to discharge Chief Okoi Obono-Obla of his responsibility as Special Adviser and Chairman of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel (SPIP).

This followed the adoption of the report of the Hon. Aliyu Ahman-Pategi-led ad-hoc Committee, which indicted the presidential aide for forgery and misrepresentation.

In an amendment to the report by the Chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business, Hon. Edward Pwajok (SAN), the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Ibrahim Idris was also asked to investigate and prosecute Chief Obono-Obla for the alleged crime.

Also, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), President, NBA; Director-General, Nigeria Law School and the Vice Chancellor, University of Jos, were all enjoined to investigate the matter and ensure that Obono-Obla is prosecuted.

Other recommendations contained in the report was that President Buhari should be urged to dissolve the Panel in view of the arbitrary use of powers and abuse of Office by the Chairman and that the Code of Conduct Bureau should be utilised to perform the function that the panel sought to perform in the current anti-corruption drive.

The report also recommended that the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) should investigate the allegations of corruption contained in the Audit Report of the Auditor-General of the Federation on the financial transactions of the panel and prosecute the culprits.

The House also recommended that the Law Degree of Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, having been allegedly obtained fraudulently, should be withdrawn by the University of Jos.

The lawmakers therefore urged the Council of Law Education to withdraw the Law School Certificate awarded to Ofem Okoi Ofem (now known as Chief Okoi Obono-Obla) as it was based on the degree which he obtained from University of Jos through fraud.