Obikwelu: Onyeama admits Foreign Affairs Ministry complicit in alleged fraud, impersonation
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The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama has admitted that the Ministry played a role in allegations of criminally aiding and abetting corruption, fraud, impersonation, child trafficking, abuse of office, etc. thereby adding a new twist to the drama.
Mr. Onyeama made the admission, albeit unwittingly, in a letter addressed to the National Assembly House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions presided over by the Chairman, Hon Jerry Alagboso.
The letter, signed by the Foreign Affairs Minister, was in response to a petition, file No. 351 of 2021, initiated by Winston Chuks Obikwelu, Esq.,
Obikwelu had alleged that the Ministry aided his estranged wife to criminally abduct his children and failed to hand over the remains when the wife died.
Consequently, the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions summoned the Ministry to a public hearing.
Responding to the allegation in writing, Minister Onyeama stated that Obikwelu’s wife presented a man they failed to ascertain his originality as the husband along with some children she claimed were hers.
The Ministry then secured the means including diplomatic passports, visas, financial support, etc. for the woman who was a staff of the Ministry, and the impostor, and posted them on official assignment to Venezuela.
When Obikwelu got information of the fraud, and considering the fact that the estranged wife was facing a lawsuit in an Abuja-based court and was not eligible to leave the country pending the resolution of the suit, he approached the Ministry for redress.
Responding to the allegation, the Minister stated: “The petitioner wrote to inform and request the recall from post of late Emmanuela Odinaka Obikwelu by the Ministry after her departure with family members, stating that his estranged wife travelled with Emmanuel Winston Obikwelu, an alleged impersonator, and a girl who is not his biological daughter.
“This request was not acceded to as as facts were not established before the Ministry before the demise of Emmanuela Odinaka Obikwelu and there is no court pronouncement to that effect.”
The Minister, however, did not indicate efforts, if any, by the Ministry to investigate the claim, especially respecting the dangerous part that a DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT was issued to someone suspected to be an impostor.
Respecting the children after the demise of their “mother”, Onyeama stated that “in compliance with Government policy, her next of kin as she indicated on her Record of Service were informed and the Ministry directed that her remains be flown back to Nigeria after the lockdown” and handed over to her next of kin, Mr. and Mrs. Godian Amadi.
Counsel to Mr. Obikwelu, during a telephone interview with ElombahNews after studying the claims made by the Minister of foreign Affairs, raised the following questions:
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1. What steps did the Ministry of Foreign Affairs take to establish who is the real husband and who should be in possession of a DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT?
2. Did Emmanuel Winston Obikwelu, an alleged impersonator, return to Nigeria with the “late wife’s” corpse? If yes, how comes he did not take his “wife’s” body for burial but rather, the remains were “handed over to her next of kin”?
3. Where, to the best of knowledge of the Minister, is Emmanuel Winston Obikwelu presently? [ElombahNews gathered that he is currently in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) where he is facing charges of impersonation and fraud.]
Meanwhile, the House Committee on Public Petition presided over by Hon Alagboso, during the public hearing, failed to verify the claims made by Mr. Obikwelu but assumed the position of “legal counsel” to the Ministry.
Alagboso lambasted Obikwelu, informing him why his petition lacked merit and could not see the light of the day.
He even advised the petitioner to simply read the response of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs and go to bed as there is nothing more to add!
Read the full story here:
In the meantime, Obikwelu and his lawyer have indicated interest to pursue legal means in the court to get reprieve.
See the attached letter by the Foreign Affairs Minister below:
