Onyeka Onwenu’s P.A Lands In Prison Over N17m Bribe In Department She Heads

From Premium Times:

One of Nigeria’s foremost celebrities, Onyeka Onwenu, has
been accused of demanding and collecting kickbacks through her personal
assistant, Chika Abazu, from a contractor employed to carry out renovation
works at the National Centre for Women Development [NCWD], where she is
director general.

The accusation was levelled by Joseph Nwakama, an architect
with Solidmark Associates Limited, the company employed by the Centre to carry
out the renovation of its guest house.

However, although it was established by investigators from
the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC,
that Mr. Abazu indeed demanded and received a total of N17 million bribe from
the contractor, no direct evidence has so far linked Ms. Onwenu to the offence.

So, it was Mr. Abazu who was on July 10 arraigned before a
Federal Capital Territory High Court on a six-count charge of bribery and
gratification.

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges but was denied
bail and ordered remanded in the Federal Prisons, Kuje, until the case is
dispensed with.

The presiding judge, Justice Chukwu Ndukwe, adjourned the
case till September 28 for trial to commence.

Although investigators could not directly link Ms. Onwenu to
bribetaking, documents obtained by the icirnigeria.org revealed so many
wrongdoings by the Centre’s management under her watch, including funding the
Solidmark contract with money taken from a Women Empowerment Programme in
Zamfara State and spending more than was budgeted for the project. That is
apart from paying the contractor even before he was officially awarded the
contract.