On a major security clamdown, it has been reported that the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) has on Tuesday made the arraignment of Dr Solomon Okpa Ita, who was a director with Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC), for an alleged embezzlement and diversion of ₦45million.
The ICPC had also allegedly arraigned another staff who works in the Accounts Department of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Gabriel Nathaniel, over some allegations which had bordered on the embezzlement and the diversion of about ₦3billion from his office.
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Both men had also been allegedly arraigned separately before Justice Zainab Abubakar of a Federal High Court in Abuja. They had also pleaded not guilty to the charge which had been preferred against them.
Ita had also been arraigned on a 4-count charge, while Nathaniel was arraigned on a fourteen-count charge.
In the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/110/2022, filed by the ICPC via its lawyer, Osuobeni Akponimsingha, Ita was said to have diverted part of the funds paid for a contract awarded to a group, Radiant Women Association.
Following their not guilty plea, the judge granted ₦50million bail to Ita with one surety who must own a property within the nation’s capital.
In another report, in lieu of the upcoming 2023 general elections, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has come out to openly warned all Nigerian politicians against the frivolous corruption petitions against some of their opponents.
Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye who is also the ICPC Chairman had openly given the warning on Friday in Abuja while he had been hosting the leadership of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) at the Commission’s Headquarters.
Owasanoye had revealed that the ICPC will not work on politically motivated petitions.