Eshioromeh Sebastian
Former Chairman of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (SPIP), Okoi Obono-Obla, has made explosive allegations, claiming that a former Attorney-General of the Federation actively frustrated his panel’s effort to recover an estimated $70 billion in stolen Nigerian funds lodged in a United States bank.
In a detailed account shared on his social media handle at the weekend, Obono-Obla revealed that while he chaired the SPIP, a U.S.-based international recovery agency, Forensic Assets Investigation and Recovery Services LLC (FAIR), contacted him with what it claimed was authentic documentation.
The agency alleged that $60 billion from stolen crude oil proceeds and an additional $10 billion stashed by a former National Security Adviser (NSA) were deposited in a bank in Texas.
“I promptly wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari, requesting authorisation to collaborate with the agency to verify and recover these funds.
“The letter was acknowledged at the Presidential Villa, and a copy was sent to the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation. However, no action was taken”, he stated.
The situation, according to him, came to a head during a period of friction with the then AGF. Obono-Obla alleged that his wife paid a visit to the AGF in an attempt to resolve their differences.
“Sarcastically, he said I claimed I could recover $60 billion in three to five months. Yes, we could—if given the mandate. But how could I recover it when they wouldn’t let us proceed?” he recounted.
He directly linked this obstruction to his eventual suspension from office in 2019.
“Clearly, some people were unhappy with my efforts and orchestrated my suspension based on phantom allegations,” he asserted, suggesting that his aggressive pursuit of high-profile recoveries made him a target.
The allegations, if proven, point to a catastrophic breakdown in Nigeria’s asset recovery efforts during the Buhari administration, which came to power on a strong anti-corruption platform. They raise serious questions about internal sabotage and the possible protection of powerful interests implicated in the alleged mega-theft.
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