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The Director General of the National Centre for Women Development, NCWD, Onyeka Onwenu, on Friday refused to honour the invitation of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over an alleged N17 million contract bribe.
An insider at the ICPC headquarters in Abuja told Leadership that the NCWD DG declined to appear before the anti-corruption agency because she had to attend to a health challenge.
However, the chairman of the ICPC is believed to be ready to explore all options, including giving Onwenu a new date in order to ensure that she answers her part in the whole 17 million naira bribery allegation.
“In line with our investigations into the alleged 17 million bribery for the contract at the NCWD, we decided it was high time we summoned the DG to say her part of the story. Though, she had declined to honour our invitation, we believe that with the arraignment of her PA, Chika Abazu, 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.
“While we integrogated other key persons like Mukhtar Usman, Jauro Jibrin and Sadeeq Umar on the same issue yesterday, it has come to the turn of the DG,” the source stated.
It would be recalled that on July 10, Onwenu’s personal assistant, Abazu, was arraigned before an Abuja High Court on a six-count charge of bribery and gratification, but pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The aide was denied bail and ordered to be 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.
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