ICPC quizzes Duke, wife, again - Freezes wife's 12 bank accounts

Lanre Adewole, Abuja - 19.02.2008

IMMEDIATE past governor of Cross River State, Mr. Donald Duke, and his wife, Onari, were on Monday quizzed by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), as investigation continued into the allegations that they looted the state while in office.

The duo, who were quizzed at about noon at the commission’s training centre in Abuja, had earlier denied being under investigation when the Nigerian Tribune exclusively broke the story.

Twelve bank accounts belonging to a Non-Governmental Organisation being run by Mrs. Duke were also said to have been frozen, containing about N60 million. The commission’s spokesman, Mr. Folu Olamiti, confirmed that Duke and his wife appeared before the commission on Monday.

The appearance of the duo, according to a highly placed source in the commission, was to afford them the opportunity to defend themselves over the allegations of fraud levelled against them.

The source disclosed that the former governor and his wife were summoned by the commission following statements made to the commission by former chairmen of local government councils in the state which allegedly indicted them on the handling of local government funds.

Duke was accused of compelling the 18 local governments in the state to be paying N1 million each every month into the bank account of his wife’s NGO.

This was said to have been done all through the eight years that Duke led the state. Before Duke left office on May 29, 2007, a total of N1.728 billion had allegedly been paid into the said account with some new generation banks.

Apart from the council funds, Duke is also being accused of mismanaging about N2.5 billion belonging to the state government.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the commission recently discovered that 12 bank accounts belonging to Mrs. Duke’s NGO received N1 million monthly from all the local government areas in the state during Duke’s tenure.

According to the source, “the commission discovered lately that 12 bank accounts belonging to the NGO owned by his wife received N1 million each from each of the local governments in the states monthly.

“The accounts of the NGO have been frozen. “It was discovered that in the course of investigation that the NGO was withdrawing money from the accounts. At the time the accounts were frozen, there was N60 million.”

Nigerian Tribune further learnt that Duke was confronted with fraud allegations in connection with the TINAPA project. The former governor was alleged to have directed the local government council chairmen in the state to be paying N50 million into a certain account monthly for TINAPA.

He was also alleged to have told them that they would become shareholders of TINAPA when completed. “There was an allegation when he was the governor that the LGAs were asked to pay N50 million monthly for TINAPA. He told the chairmen that they would be shareholders after completion.

Some people are now asking questions about the N50 million. “ICPC also took him up on the state properties. He was said to have sold one of the five star hotels in the state valued at N800 million for N200 million,” the source said.