The Federal Government has dropped Mr Okoi Obono-Obla as the Chairman, Special Investigation Panel on recovery of Public Property.
The announcement was made on Sunday by Mr Salihu Isah, Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami.
He said that Obono-Obla was directed to stop carrying out operations as head of the panel.
Isah said that the directive which was issued in a letter addressed to the panel’s chairman was signed by Malami.
According to Isah the decision to release Obono-Obla of the position was based on the grounds that his recent actions were contrary to the enabling act that established the panel.
He said that the letter equally stated that the activities of the panel had contravened the established administrative procedures and protocols in the nation’s civil service structure.
He was instructed to, henceforth, seek clearance from the minister before granting any interview or issuing press statements on official matters.
He was also directed to provide a detailed report on the activities of the panel to Malami for onward transmission to the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
However, Okoi Obono-Obla,has rejected the cease and desist plus gag order against him and urged the public to disregard his purported sack.
Speaking through a statement issued by his Assistant Director of Press, Lucieann Laha, Obla dismissed as untrue, the claim that he had been sacked as the chairman of the Presidential Special Panel on Recovery of Public Property.
The statement reads: “The attention of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property has been drawn to a purported news in the media that the Chairman of the Panel, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla has been removed. “While there is a letter from the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, based on a purported letter from the Office of the Vice President to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister for Justice drawing attention to certain procedural issues, and which an appropriate response is being prepared, there is no iota of truth in the purported removal of the Chairman of the Panel.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there is no such directive from the Presidency to the Chairman of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property relieving him of his office and the information purportedly removing the Chairman should be disregarded.”
