Ex-Aide Obono-Obla: Loot Recovered Under Buhari Was Returned to Looters

Okoi Obono-Obla, a former Chairman of the Special Investigation Panel, SPIP, for the Recovery of Public Property, has disclosed that the loot recovered under former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was returned to the looters.

Obono-Obla made this known on Saturday during an interview with Seun Okinbaloye on Mic On Podcast.

Speaking of how bad corruption is in the Nigeria system, the former presidential aide said all his efforts to bring many looters to justice in the country were frustrated by the former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami and other
officials in the same administration.

“Some of the things I recovered were returned to the looters. There was this case of someone from whom I recovered over 80 brand new X-class Mercedes Benz cars (armoured plated) from Jabi, Abuja.

“I wrote to the DG, Customs and the Federal Inland Revenue Services to ask if the person paid customs duties and tax on the vehicles; they said No.

“We get an order of interim forfeiture from the court pending the hearing of the case. So, I sent a memo to Malami to brief him on what we were doing, only for him to tell me that he never mandated me to do things I investigated,” he stated.

SPIP was an independent investigative panel set up by former president Buhari to recover Nigeria’s looted assets.