The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission has been asked to beam its searchlight on the Federal College of Education (Technical), Asaba, Delta State, over an alleged corruption in the institution.
In a petition sent to ICPC Chairman, Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre), said a representative of the school’s workforce had written to the anti-graft agency indicating a can of worms in the institution but instead the whistleblower had faced threats to his life.
“We urge you without further delay to beam the searchlight on the school. There are serious allegations of corruption against the management of the school. The allegations are financial mismanagement of millions of Naira of public funds” HEDA said in a petition signed by its Chairman, Mr Olanrewaju Suraju.
HEDA said it received calls from one Mr. Ameh Joseph Eche, who informed the group that he had written a petition since last year to the commission demanding an investigation into the prevailing corrupt practices at the federal college in Delta State.
Eche informed HEDA that upon communication with the head of the investigation team, Mr Muhammed Lawal, he was told that active investigation commenced on the petition in January 2020 but that after a month of not receiving any feedback, he relayed with Lawal again, who notified him that the investigation on the petition had been concluded and recommended for prosecution and that the suspects were found culpable.
“The provisions of the law are clear on the powers conferred on the ICPC to investigate and prosecute. The investigation on the matter said to have been concluded in February 2020 is yet to be instituted in a court of competent jurisdiction,” Suraju said, urging the ICPC to give adequate protection to Eche.
HEDA added that Eche deserves protection and should be treated as a patriotic citizen and whistleblower, who did the right thing by reporting the recurring cases of corruption in the name of contract implementation amongst top officials of the institution.
Suraju said further, “We call for urgent investigation and we want to see the ICPC ensure that individuals and officials implicated in abuse of office and corrupt practices are brought to justice, which is of utmost priority to the course of justice.”
