A middle-aged man, Iladion Emmanuel, has been arraigned by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission
(ICPC), over alleged forgery of travel documents and other ancillary offences.
The Commission, in a 5-count charge brought before Honourable Justice
M.B. Idris of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court 26,
sitting in Nyanya, Abuja, told the court how the accused person
conspired with one Mrs. Obikwelu Emmanuela Odinaka, a staff of the
Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who is now deceased, to
dishonestly obtain an official passport number F00035510 from the
Nigeria Immigration Service.
Iladion Emmanuel is said to have taken advantage of the frosty
relationship between the late Mrs. Obikwelu and her husband, Mr. Chuks
Winston Obikwelu, to impersonate the character of the later and signed
a letter captioned “Consent for Issuance of Nigeria Standard Passports
to Our Children,” when he was actually not Obikwelu Emmanuel Winston.
ICPC in a Charge No: CR/085/2021 averred that Mr. Emmanuel Iladion,
had with the intention to mislead the Federal Government of Nigeria,
knowingly given a false statement to the Comptroller-General of the
Nigeria Immigration Service in the E-Official Diplomatic Passport Data
Form.
The defendant was also accused of assuming the personality of Mr.
Chuks Winston Obikwelu when he signed the “Consent Form for Issuance
of Nigeria Standard Passports as the father of Obikwelu Enyiazu
Theresa, Obikwelu Emmanuela Chimdindu, Obikwelu Joan Onyekachi and
Obikwelu Michael Elijah in the name of Obikwelu Emmanuel Winston, when
he knew he was not the father of the above mentioned children.
Trouble began to brew for him when the biological father of the
children petitioned the Commission on Mr. Iladion’s fraudulent acts.
The accused person’s actions are contrary to sections 26 (1) (c) and
25 (1) (a) and punishable under sections (17) (c) and (25) (b) of the
Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, and section
179 of the Penal Code Cap 532 Laws of FCT, Abuja.
When the accused person was asked to take his pleas, he entered a “not
guilty” plea.
Owing to the failure of defense counsel to file an application for his
client’s bail, the trial judge ruled that the accused be remanded in
Kuje Correctional Service Centre pending a formal bail application.
The case was subsequently adjourned to the 5th of July 2021 for
commencement of trial.