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| Mike Okiro |
Following a petition submitted to anti-corruption agencies, ICPC and EFCC, regarding alleged criminal misappropriation of funds in the Police Service Commission, PSC, its Chairman, Sir Mike Okiro, came out yesterday to deny the allegation, citing conspiracy and blackmail by the authors. Speaking to journalists in Abuja, Okiro said: “In a nutshell, there is no iota of truth in the bogus claim, that a mind-boggling figure of N275 million was misappropriated from the coffers of the commission.”
He said the petition was written by one of his staff, Aaron Kaase, who was currently on suspension over gross misconduct and criminal activities, adding that his petition lacked empirical evidence and substantiation.
Recall that the chairman of the commission was alleged to have attempted to misappropriate N275.5 million meant for training of staff of the commission for purposes of monitoring police activities during the last general elections.
Having obtained N350 million from the Office of the National Security Adviser, he was alleged to have failed to utilise the money appropriately for the purpose so demanded, just as the manner of contract awarded was fraught with inconsistencies.
Narrating his own side of the story, Okiro said the blackmail started in April when he received a text message purportedly from a journalist who claimed to be working on a story over alleged N350 million loot in the commission and that a petition was already with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and Independent Corrupt Practices and other offences Commission, ICPC, on the matter.
With a demand to see the Chairman immediately, the caller claimed he had agreed with some editors of six newspapers that Okiro should cough out N10 million for the story to be buried, because once the story was published the chairman will be removed by Buhari’s administration.
Okiro said he stood his grounds, even when the journalist sent his account number in a text message and later came to his house demanding the money, also warning that failure to pay would lead to publication of the story.
Okiro said the journalist also warned that if the story was published, people would not believe his (Okiro) subsequent explanations.
He said: “This man would not let me rest…therefore I sent him a text that I received the account number, but I can’t succumb to your blackmail.
“I didn’t steal government money and have nothing to fear…I have had enough. Please give me a break. If this persists, I will report you to the Guild of Editors.”
He said since the journalist did not call him thereafter, he felt he (journalist) had gone back to the trenches to adopt another method.
He said considering that the details from the petition came from a worker in the PSC, he handed the journalist over to the State Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, which discovered that Kaase wanted to wed in May and needed money and felt the quickest way was to connive with the journalist to extort money from him.
“The journalist was brought to my office and he confronted Kaase in the presence of the Commissioners, Permanent Secretary, Directors and other management staff; where Kaase also confirmed that he gave my phone number to the journalist to call and demand N10 million,” Okiro said.
Explaining why Kaase was incarcerated, Okiro said it was in connection with a crime he committed outside the commission.
He said Kaase allegedly collected N1 million from a man to assist him secure a USA visiting visa when he was the protocol officer but failed to deliver.
Asked if the allegations by his former protocol officer were true, the former IGP said the case was being investigated by the anti-corruption agency, adding that he would not want to touch on those positions.
“I don’t want to touch on those aspects that ICPC is investigating,” he said.
He said Kaase was suspended from service after he was arrested and remanded at Kuje prisons in line with the regulations of the civil service, insisting that it was after this that he went to the press and followed it up with a petition to the anti-corruption bodies.
Okiro added: “The Police Service Commission wrote to the ICPC on the May 25, 2015, to investigate the case and look at the books to ascertain if N275, 525,000 was missing.”
The Commissioner, who represents the media in the commission, Dame Comfort Obi, while expressing her disappointment, said the accused journalist could not deny that he attempted to blackmail the chairman as she was also privileged to speak to the journalist after seeing the text message and account number sent to Okiro demanding for the N10million.
“Why he cannot deny it is that time has gone when you can call somebody and you say you cannot be traced, service providers will be there to tell you, line by line, word for word what was discussed, and luckily, it was a monumental mistake, a text was sent, account number was there.
“That’s why I can assure you that the journalist cannot deny. But the case is under investigation, so the journalist cannot be named for now. I am very embarrassed by it because I know the people involved,” Dame Obi said.
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