The Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator IretiKingibe, has denied accusation of fraud and abuse of office brought against her by a businessman, Mr. Nonso Okafor, expressing her willingness to appear before any anti-corruption agency to defend her good name.
In a statement issued to journalists on Wednesday, the female senator described the allegations as entirely false, baseless, and a deliberate attempt to tarnish her reputation and integrity as the Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory in the 10th National Assembly.
The businessman had on Monday lodged a petition before the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), wherein he had called on the commission to investigate the senator over allegations bordering on abuse of office and fraud to the tune of N65 million naira.
The petitioner had claimed the FCT Senator alongside one of her Senior Legislative Aides (SLA), Mr. Osereme Christen Omofoma, had fraudulently obtained the sum of $65,000 (Which was equivalent to N118,000,000, at that time), from him sometimes in October 2024.
Reacting, Senator Ireti Kingibe denied ever receiving money from anyone or gave instructions to anyone to do so on her behalf in exchange for any contract or favour.
“Attention of Senator Ireti Kingibe has been drawn to a petition and subsequent media reports alleging that she received funds in exchange for facilitating a non-existent federal government contract.
“She wishes to categorically state that these allegations are entirely false, baseless, and a deliberate attempt to tarnish her reputation and integrity as the Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory in the 10th National Assembly.
“At no time did Senator Ireti Kingibe request, receive, or authorize anyone to collect money on her behalf in exchange for any contract or favor”, she said through her Special Assistant on Media, Matilda Duncan.
Speaking further, the FCT minister stressed that, “I do not engage in, nor do I condone, any form of inducement or financial arrangement tied to the performance of my legislative duties”, on the grounds that contractors receive jobs directly from agencies.
While maintaining she did not mandate any aide, including the individual mentioned, to solicit funds or make promises of contracts to any person, she pointed out that anyone who had acted in such a manner, did so without her knowledge, consent, or approval.
“Senator Ireti welcomes a thorough and transparent investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) or any other relevant authority, and she is fully prepared to cooperate to ensure that the truth is established.
“Her commitment remains to serve the people of the Federal Capital Territory with honesty, accountability, and dedication. She urges the public to disregard these unverified claims and allow due process to take its course”, the statement added.
In a letter dated April 27 and addressed to the ICPC boss, the petitioner recalled how he was “deceitfully lured into paying the sum of $65,000 … following intense persuasion exerted on him” by Omofoma.
Elochukwu Obi, counsel to the petitioner, who signed the letter, claimed that the SLA had approached his client pleading with him to help “raise the sum of 100,000 USD, for the Senator, to enable her meet urgent financial needs.
According to him, the SLA promised that the money will be repaid in full or in the alternative, the senator will facilitate the award of contracts to the petitioner through which he will recoup his money.
“Initially, our client did not want to be part of the arrangement, especially as he did not have the huge amount of money that was demanded, at that material time. However, as a result of the enormous pressure exerted on our client by the SLA, our client was railroaded into borrowing, in order to meet up with the cash demand.
“Consequently, he resorted to borrowing from his friends. At the end, our client was able to raise the sum of 65,000 USD, out of the 100,000 USD that was initially demanded and this was borrowed at exorbitant rates.
“This money was paid to Senator Kingibe, in two tranches in October, 2024. The contract award promised to him was expected to come within a few weeks from the date of payment”, he said.
The lawyer noted that problem however started several months later when neither the money was repaid nor any contract awarded, adding that, “it dawned on our client that there was no contract for him, and that he had simply been misled”.
The letter disclosed that when the petitioner began to ask for the refund of his money, the senator allegedly not only refused to refund the money but began to actively claim that she did not receive any money from the businessman.
He said, following determination to get law enforcement involved in the matter, “they reluctantly decided to unilaterally pay only N50,000,000, out of the total 65,000 USD (N118,000,000). The payment was made in May 2025. After this, Senator Kingibe and her aide tried to compel our client to accept the payment as full and final, with threats to arrest him, if refuses to forego the balance”.
The lawyer stated that all appeals for the completion of the balance of N68,000,000, fell on deaf ears.
“Our client believes that the attitudes of Senator Ireti Kingibe and her SLA so far have been dodgy, deceptive and geared towards defrauding him of his money by leveraging on the shield provided by high governmental positions.
“Our client also strongly believes that there were no contracts for the senator to facilitate in the first place. In the contrary, the FACILITATION OF CONTRACT was a deceitful gimmick, which was deployed to fraudulently collect money from him, without any intention of refunding same.
“It is against the above backdrop that we bring this petition to the attention of your office. On behalf of our client, we most respectfully plead, that you urgently intervene and cause your officers to investigate this matter in order to determine whether there has been criminal infractions and abuse of public office.
“We also specifically plead for the recovery of the outstanding of N68,000,000 (Sixty-eight million Naira), which was deceitfully collected from our client and wrongfully retained by Senator Ireti Kingibe”, the letter added.
Meanwhile, when contacted, the senator did not respond to calls put across to her, nor replied messages sent to her via SMS and Whatsapp.
Alex Enumah and Sunday Aborisade
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