Obono-Obla may lose status as lawyer

Mr. Okoi Obono-Obla, Chairman, Special Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property, recently suspended from office may have his education and law certificates withdrawn.

Obono-Obla’s suspension announced on Wednesday 14th August, took immediate effect, according to a letter signed by Boss Mustapha, Secretary to Government of the Federation.

The letter addressed to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha, referenced NASS/CAN/105/Vol. 25/044 was dated 5th February 2019 and signed by the Clerk to the National Assembly, Mr. Sani Omolori and referenced.

Copied in the letter were, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF); Inspector-General of Police, Chief Justice of Nigeria; President Nigeria Bar Association (NBA); Vice Chancellor, University of Jos; Director-General, Nigeria Law School; Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC); Chairman, National Universities Commission (NUC); Chairman, Council of Legal Education; Nigeria Law School; and the Chairman, Body of Benchers

The letter reads: “The House of Representatives on Thursday, 20th December 2018, considered the Report of the AD-HOC Committee on Finance to Investigate the Legality and Modus Operandi of the Special Presidential Panel and subsequently recommended that:

“The president should be urged to dissolve the panel in view of the arbitrary use of powers and abuse of Office by the Chairman;  “Code of Conduct Bureau should be utilised to perform the gap that the Panel seeks to fill in the current anti-corruption drive; “The President of the FRN should discharge Chief Okoi Obono-Obla of his responsibility as Special Adviser and Chairman of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel (SPIP);  “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“The Law Degree of Chief Okoi Okono- Obla, having been obtained fraudulently, be withdrawn by University of Jos.”

“The Council of Legal Education should withdraw the Law School Certificate awarded Ofem Okoi Ofem (now known as Chief Okoi Obono-Obla) as it was based on the degree which he obtained from the University of Jos through fraud; “The Body of Benchers should withdraw the Call to Bar Certificate issued to Chief Okoi Obono-Obla; “The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) should prosecute Chief Okoi Obono-Obla before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee; and

“Chief Okoi Obono­ -Obla should be prosecuted by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and charged to court for forgery and misrepresentation”.

It could be recalled that the House had indicted Obono-Obla of forgery of West African Examination Council (WAEC) result following both oral and written testimonies by the examination body.

Whereas the WAEC result (Examination No. 09403/247 May/June 1982) with which Obono-Obla obtained his degree in Law indicates that he made five credit passes, including Literature-in-English, official letters from WAEC to the House of Representatives dated 11th and 17th April 2018 and signed by Mr. A. A Okelezue and Mr. Olu Adenipekun, respectively, showed that he did not sit for Literature-in-English.

Also, in his oral testimony under oath, WAEC Deputy Registrar, Mr. Femi Ola, affirmed the allegation, describing the result Obono-Obla’s parades as “altered”, “not genuine”, and “invalid”.