Onyeka Onwenu Invited By ICPC Over N17m Bribery Scandal

 Ms Onyeka Onwenu

The Director-General of the National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), Ms Onyeka Onwenu, has been invited by the ICPC over an alleged N17m bribe for contract scandal. Also invited for interaction is an internal auditor and three other top officials of the centre. A deputy Director in the centre who is also Onwenu’s personal assistant, Chika Abazu, has been remanded in prison following the bribery scandal.
Abazu was charged to court on July 10, 2015 before Justice Chukwu Ndukwe of the Federal Capital Territory High Court and is facing a six-count charge of bribery and gratification. He, however, pleaded not guilty, but was denied bail by the court and remanded in Kuje Prison. A contractor, Joseph Nwakama, petitioned ICPC alleging that he paid N17 million bribe top officials of the centre through Abazu. Nwakama said, “I was called by Abazu, a deputy director at the NCWD and PA to Onwenu, early in April 2014 and asked to submit a bid for the renovation of rooms at the centre’s guest house. “After two days he called me and told me that the centre would like me to do the job because my bill was the lowest, and that I should come and see the DG. “When I came, the DG asked me to start work, that I should work day and night (and) that they would give me an award letter, agreement and advance. Advertisement “He told me that the DG wanted me to give them N23 million out of the money for the 55 rooms. I told him that it was too much (but) he told me that if I was not going to give them, the DG would ask me to pay back the money (N22, 619, 047.62) and the other contractor would do the job.” He claimed he later gave Abazu the N17 million. Explaining why Onwenu was invited, a top official in the anti-graft agency said, “Our investigation into the bribery scam has reached an appreciable level of interaction with Ms Onyeka Onwenu. “Actually, this invitation predated this new administration. But each time we summoned her during the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, she used to tell ICPC that she was either running one errand for the former First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, or on her entourage. “Now that we have arraigned her PA in court, we need to complete the other leg of our investigation because findings have shown that some officials of NCWD were also implicated in the bribery scandal. “Fairness demands that we should hear from these officials whether or not they were involved as alleged.” The said contract was awarded on April 28, 2014 at N33 million for 25 rooms.
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